Valerie Bertinelli

On April 11, 1981 Valerie Bertinelli married the guitarist Eddie Van Halen. The couple has a son (Wolfgang) who was born in 1991. They named their son after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who was Eddie Van Halen’s favorite composer.

Her marriage with Van ended in 2007. The reasons for their divorce have been highlighted by Bertinelli in her autobiography. She stated that it was her husband’s drug addiction and smoking habit that lead to their divorce.

In 2004, while still married to Van Halen, she had started dating financial planner Tom Vitale and the couple got married in 2011.

Valerie Bertinelli was born on 23 April 1960 in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, to parents Nancy and Andrew, a General Motors executive.

Raised Roman Catholic, she has two younger brothers. She also had an elder brother who died before she was born.

Because of her father’s job, she along with her family frequently moved and had to live in Delaware, Michigan, Clarkston, Claymont, Shreveport, California, Oklahoma City and Louisiana at different times.

In her early teens, Bertinelli lived in the Michigan Area where she attended Clarkston Middle School. When she was living in California, she became friends with the daughter of a famous TV producer. At the time she caught the acting bug and started studying acting at the Tami Lynn School of Artists.

She also attended Granada Hills High School.

Valerie Bertinelli’s acting career started in 1974 when she worked in an episode of the television series ‘Apple's Way.’

She got her big break in 1975 in the CBS hit TV series ‘One Day at a Time’ which was produced by Norman Lear. In the series she played the role of Barbara Jean Copper. Bertinelli was 15 years old at that time.

In 1981, she formed her own film company and produced the television movies ‘Shattered Vows’ in the year 1984 and ‘Silent Witness’ in the year 1985. She also acted in these movies.

Valerie Bertinelli was also a part of the miniseries ‘I'll Take Manhattan’ which was telecast in 1987. This series was based on a novel written by Judith Krantz. She appeared in two situation comedies as well—‘Sydney’ and ‘Cafe Americain.’ These series were canceled after short runs.

Meanwhile she also acted in three feature films: ‘C.H.O.M.P.S.,’ ‘Ordinary Heroes,’ and ‘Number One with a Bullet’ which came in the year 1979, 1986 and 1987 respectively.

Valerie Bertinelli is best known for her award winning performance as Barbara Cooper Royer in the sitcom ‘One Day at a Time’ in which she portrayed the role of a wisecracking teenage girl. The role gained the actress much popularity and set the pace for her future career.