Alex Van Halen is shedding light on his brother Eddie Van HalenAddiction to prescription pills.
In his first interview since Eddie's death, Alex, 71, explained that his late brother, the Van Halen guitarist, became addicted to prescription steroid pills after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor in his years prior to his death. (Eddie died in 2020 from complications from cancer. He was 65 years old.)
“You know, he fought until the end,” Alex said. rolling stone in an interview published on Tuesday, October 15. “Anyone who thought I was less than that can suck my you-know-what. … If you knew what he had to go through to beat cancer, he wouldn't follow traditional treatment. Some of the bizarre things caused such a toxic mixture in his body. And yes, you shouldn't drink with him, Ed!
Alex added that the pills made his brother “feel like Superman” and one day he saw Eddie take all the pills in the bottle. The intention was not to harm himself but to pursue that feeling.
“I didn't see the bottle, but it had like a thousand pills,” he said. “If two are good, twenty are better. “That was our mantra.”
Alex, who was also Van Halen's drummer, laughed when he said it, although he accepts that the pills probably contributed to his brother's death.
In the time before Eddie's death, he continued to create music while pursuing experimental cancer treatments. Alex admits that the music wasn't very good, but that's not the point: the point is that he was able to do it.
When Eddie died, the family was unable to have a proper funeral with the world still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alex called it “unceremonious” and added that Eddie was cremated and his son, Wolfgang, has his ashes.
“I have to say, Wolf did a phenomenal job handling all that s—,” he said. “Period much longer than any young man should have been in charge.”
Meanwhile, Alex had to deal with his own “ocean pain.”
“I was screaming and yelling. “I was beside myself,” he said. “I just miss it. I miss the arguments. I live with it every day. And I can't bring him back. “I can't do things right.”
Sometimes, he can still feel Eddie's presence, telling him rolling stone“Ed's been here a couple of times.”
“Okay,” Alex concluded. “Wherever I am, it's fine.”
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