Valerie Bertinelli Comes Clean

Just months after meeting, Valerie and Eddie set their wedding date for April 11, 1981. Looking back, Valerie cringes at how they prepared for the day and wrote about the experience in Losing It: "The priest we tapped to perform the ceremony gave us questionnaires so he could get to know us better and offer more personal words. As we filled out the forms at home, we each held a little vial of cocaine. Now, if you ask me, those are not two people who should be making decisions about the rest of their lives." Valerie says the way their wedding night ended was a typical night for the couple. "I passed out on the bed in my gown, and Ed fell asleep in the bathroom."

Valerie says she tried to keep up with Eddie's rocker lifestyle on Friday and Saturday nights and during the weeks when she wasn't taping One Day at a Time. "The week off I would destroy my body trying to stay up with him," she says. "It got to a point whenever I heard the birds chirp, it was, "Oh, God, no.' It took me years after stopping the cocaine before I could enjoy a sunrise and enjoy the sound of birds."

Valerie says the picture of her marriage only looked great from the outside. "I'm the wife of this amazing musician, and lots of girls want him, and I got him," she says. On the inside, Valerie says her marriage was sad—she and Eddie didn't connect. "He had his responsibilities of what he had to do, and I had my responsibilities," she says. "And we thought if you just live in the same house there would be a connection, but no."