Valerie Bertinelli Says She’s Never Been on a First Date

Valerie Bertinelli told the star of 50 First Dates she’s never been on one.

During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show on Wednesday, Sept. 24, the celebrity chef admitted, “I’ve never been on a first date, so I have no idea how it works.”

“That’s because she goes straight to marriage,” host Drew Barrymore joked.

“Wait, you’ve never been on a first date?” Ross Mathews asked, to which Bertinelli replied, “No, no one’s ever asked me out.”

Barrymore was skeptical, telling the One Day at a Time star, “You’re Valerie Bertinelli. How the hell is that possible?”

Bertinelli, who tied the knot with Eddie Van Halen in 1981, pointed out that she was young when her first marriage began.

“I, well, I got married at 20 and I was married for 20 years, 20 some odd years,” she said.

The Indulge cookbook author was married to the Van Halen frontman from 1981 until 2007. Eddie died from cancer at age 65 in October 2020. Bertinelli was then married to her second husband, Tom Vitale, from 2011 until 2022.

“Do you remember, like, your first night with Ed, was it an official date? Did you guys just meet somewhere?” Barrymore then wanted to know.

The Hot in Cleveland star shared that the couple met backstage at a Van Halen concert she attended with her younger brother, Patrick Bertinelli.

“My brother Patrick, brought us to the concert that they were having in Shreveport, Louisiana,” she recalled. “My parents lived out there and we just made eyes and then we talked backstage and then we talked, after the show and then he asked me out to a concert in Oklahoma, so Patrick and I went and then we were together ever since.”

“Eight months later, we were married,” she added.

During a “memory bank” segment on The Drew Barrymore Show last week, Bertinelli recalled how a career change led her and Eddie to welcome their son, Wolfgang Van Halen, in 1991.

The memory was prompted by a photo of Bertinelli celebrating her 30th birthday with the cast of her 1990 CBS sitcom, Sydney.

“All I remember mainly about this is that we were canceled, and as soon as we were canceled, I said, ‘Okay, it’s time,’” she said. “And I got pregnant a couple weeks later.”

“I was like, ‘I’m 30. We’re either gonna do it now or we’re not, Ed.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, yeah!’”

Bertinelli frequently posts photos and videos with Wolfgang, now 34, who’s a musician himself and performs with his band Mammoth.

In August, the Food Network alum praised Wolfgang’s musical talent in an Instagram message remembering Eddie.

“You’d be so proud of Wolf,” Bertinelli wrote. “I know we’d be screaming together in the stands watching him on stage. Seeing who could whistle the loudest. I will never not miss being able to experience that with you.”

The Drew Barrymore Show airs weekdays on CBS (check local listings).