Bertinelli and Van Halen's marriage didn't get any easier over time. When she wasn't filming One Day at a Time, Bertinelli tried to keep up with her husband's rock star lifestyle with limited success (via Oprah). Though Bertinelli eventually gave up partying, Van Halen continued to struggle with cocaine addiction (via Today). Beyond the drugs, they had trouble connecting as they both fulfilled their work obligations, sometimes apart. "He had his responsibilities of what he had to do, and I had my responsibilities," she told Oprah. "And we thought if you just live in the same house there would be a connection, but no." Infidelity also played a part, on both sides.
In 2001, the pair separated. Bertinelli says her motivation was her son. "One of the many reasons that Ed and I split up is to give Wolfie a better vision of what two people who are supposedly in love treat each other like. Ed and I weren't treating each other like two people that loved each other, and that's what Wolfie was seeing," she told Oprah.
