Valerie Bertinelli says despite her girl-next-door image, her marriage to Eddie Van Halen was hurt by infidelity and drug use — by her, too.
"I wasn't an angel, either. I cheated, too," Bertinelli said on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" broadcast Monday. "He claims to this day that I cheated first, but I don't know. I don't know about the timing."
Bertinelli, who starred in the long-running sitcom "One Day at a Time," married Van Halen in 1981 when she was 20. She said she was "destroying my body," trying to keep up with a rock-star lifestyle on the weekends and weeks off from taping her TV show.
"It got to a point where whenever I heard the birds chirp, I'd be like, 'Oh, God, no.' It took me years after stopping the cocaine before I was able to enjoy a sunrise and enjoy the sound of birds," she said.
The couple separated in 2001. Their divorce became final in December. They have a son, Wolfgang, who's now 16 and touring as bassist with the band Van Halen.
The actress, 47, said she has struggled with body-image issues since she was a child, but especially turned to food for comfort as her marriage dissolved.
Bertinelli taped a segment for Oprah that airs Monday and says this:
"He's a handsome young man, qsn't he? I went up to read for Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I was so wrong for, way too young for... And the next day I got a call and some flowers ... [Spielberg] asked me out. We went out a few times, um, and did more."
In an excerpt from her book she says how his abhorrence of garlic wrecked any chances:
"Even though the tabloids reported that Steven and I had a 'special love,' and 'we were talking about marriage,' we knew it was a fling," writes Bertinelli. "We had too many differences, including age, career status and religion. I met his mother, and I knew he wasn't going to marry someone who wasn't Jewish. And there was the stuff that really matters to me - food. One night, as we made pasta for dinner, I started to chop up garlic and Steven said, 'No. Stop. No garlic.' I stopped all right, but it wasn't because I took direction from him. I thought, 'Are you kidding me? I can't date a guy who won't eat garlic.' "
She also dishes drugs and cheating:
"I cheated," she confessed. "[Ex-husband Eddie Van Halen] claims to this day that I cheated first, but I don't know. I don't know about the timing."
Bertinelli, 47, also admitted to using cocaine during her marriage to Eddie, 53.
"Got to do another bump," she explained to Oprah.
"Another bump?" Oprah asked.
"Of cocaine," Bertinelli clarified.
Valerie is now the spokesperson for Jenny Craig.
Van Halen's publicist said the musician had no comment on Bertinelli's book or interviews to promote it.
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