Wolfgang Van Halen reflects on his father’s addiction: “His desire to get clean was to be with me, and to enjoy making music with me”

Wolfgang Van Halen has reflected on witnessing his father, Eddie Van Halen, struggle with addiction.

WVH joined Van Halen officially back in 2007 as a teenager, filling in for Michael Anthony on bass. At the time, Wolfgang says he “became a support system” and believes his father’s desire to get clean was based on prioritising their relationship. As an adult, Wolfgang doesn’t drink or smoke.

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During the latest episode of Chris Difford’s I Never Thought It Would Happen podcast, Wolf explains: “Growing up witnessing and being around it I was a bit naive to the severity of it, until I became of age to really understand, around my early teens, and being around his struggles when I joined Van Halen.

“I think that was one of the big things of me being in the band was [being] his support system. Addiction is a disease. And it’s a very awful one, and it really had a strong hold on him, but he got through it, and I was very proud of the way he got out of it.”

He later adds, “The strongest thing he may have had in the likeness of something like a mentor was maybe our relationship. I think his desire to get clean was to be with me, and to enjoy making music with me and finding joy in that, instead of the very notable drama that Van Halen was famous for over the years.”

Listen to the full podcast below:

Eddie remained sober from 2008. He sadly passed away due to complications from cancer in 2020.

Wolfgang’s band Mammoth WVH are due to commence the second leg of their tour this May, and you can view all scheduled live dates now. They’ll be on the road with special guests Intervals following the first leg of dates with Nita Strauss in tow.