Valerie Bertinelli shares shocking hotel misunderstanding from 1980s South America trip

Valerie Bertinelli has recalled a shocking misunderstanding from her 1980s tour travels with her late ex-husband, rock legend Eddie Van Halen, revealing she was once mistaken for a sex worker at a hotel in Brazil.

Speaking on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast with Ted Danson, the 66-year-old actress reflected on a trip to South America during her marriage to the Van Halen guitarist, when she briefly stepped away from filming One Day at a Time to join him on tour.

“I don’t remember a lot about the ‘80s, but I do remember this story,” Bertinelli said, explaining that the incident took place in either São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro.

Bertinelli recalled that after spending time at a hotel bar with Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex Van Halen, she and her sister-in-law attempted to return to their room only to be stopped by hotel staff.

“They were trying to tell us that prostitutes aren’t allowed on the upper floors,” she said, noting that she immediately tried to explain she was married and wearing a wedding ring.

Despite her efforts, she said she was still refused entry and eventually had to call Van Halen from a hotel phone for help.

“I had to leave the elevator, get on the phone — because there were no cell phones in the early ‘80s — and call Ed in the room and say, ‘Can you come down and get me? Because they won’t let me up. They think Valeri and I are prostitutes,’” she recalled.

Bertinelli and Van Halen were married in 1981 and remained together until their divorce in 2007. The couple shares one son, Wolfgang Van Halen.

Van Halen, who died in 2020 at the age of 65 following a battle with cancer, remains one of rock music’s most influential guitarists.

Bertinelli recently revisited her life experiences in her memoir Getting Naked: The Quiet Work of Becoming Perfectly Imperfect, and is also set to appear in the upcoming Lifetime film Love, Again, which airs May 9.