Valerie Bertinelli got emotional while recounting her life since Eddie Van Halen’s death in an interview with the Today show.

“It’s been rough. Very bittersweet,” the rocker’s ex-wife admitted when asked how she's handled the last few months.

Bertinelli has been a regular guest on the popular morning show for several years, a fact she confessed may have contributed to her emotions. “I don’t know why I’m tearing up,” the actress explained to hosts Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie and Carson Daly. “You know when you hear voices and you see people that you feel the connection with and — you guys always make me tear up.”

“It’s hard,” the actress continued, detailing moments when she forgets Eddie is gone. “I’ve gone to text him a few dozen times. I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t text him right now.’”

The couple were married for 26 years before divorcing in 2007. Together they raised their son, Wolfgang, who has since gone on to a successful music career in his own right.

During a later segment on Today, Bertinelli described spending the recent holidays with her son as “quite magical,” especially given the circumstances. “I wasn't able to spend his birthday with him because we went into shutdown in March. It was the first birthday in 29 years I didn't get to see him, so we really made an effort to keep ourselves healthy and safe and masked, and we were able to spend the holidays together. It's a very much-needed time for us.”

Back in November, Wolfgang gave his own interview to Today, discussing his father’s legacy, as well as “Distance,” the solo track he penned in his dad’s honor.

“Some days it’s just really hard to get out of bed,” the younger Van Halen admitted of life without Eddie. “It doesn’t seem like the pain is ever really going to go away. You just figure out how to carry it a bit better.” Still, Wolfgang insisted he’s “going to keep going, because I know that’s what [his father] would have wanted.”

 

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