In a candid interview with Rolling Stone, Alex Van Halen, drummer and co-founder of the iconic band Van Halen, has spoken for the first time about his brother Eddie Van Halen’s tragic battle with addiction and his eventual death in 2020. The conversation, published on October 15, reveals the emotional toll that losing his brother has taken and sheds light on Eddie’s struggle with prescription medication in his final years.
Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6, 2020, at the age of 65, following a long fight with cancer. His son Wolf confirmed the news in a heartfelt social media post, mourning his father’s passing. Now, four years later, Alex, 71, shares that the loss still feels painfully fresh.
“It’s more than fresh,” Alex said of Eddie’s death, describing the grief as “oceanic.” He admitted that Eddie’s death left him in a state of profound emotional paralysis. “I was yelling and screaming. I was beside myself. I just miss him… I can’t bring him back. I can’t make things right.”
During the interview, Alex disclosed that Eddie had become addicted to prescription steroid pills, originally prescribed to reduce swelling following surgery for a brain tumor. He said that Eddie would often take far more than the recommended dose because the drugs made him “feel like Superman.”
“I didn’t see the bottle, but the bottle had, like, a thousand pills in it,” Alex recalled. “If two’s good, 20’s better. That was our mantra.”
Alex went on to express frustration with his brother’s self-destructive habits, including mixing the medication with alcohol. “Some of the off-the-wall stuff he was doing created a toxic mix in his body. And, yeah, you shouldn’t drink with it, Ed!”
Despite his illness and the toll it took on his body, Eddie never stopped making music, continuing to work in Switzerland while undergoing experimental treatments for his cancer. “He fought until the end,” Alex said, fiercely defending his brother’s resilience. “Anybody who thought he was anything less than that can suck my you-know-what.”
Eddie’s musical output in his later years may not have lived up to his legendary status, but for Alex, that wasn’t the point. “That’s what he did,” Alex said of his brother’s dedication to his craft. “The music wasn’t very good, but it wasn’t about that anymore.”
The interview marks Alex Van Halen’s first public discussion of Eddie’s passing and serves as a preview for his upcoming memoir, Brothers, set to release this fall. The memoir chronicles the Van Halen brothers’ journey, from their childhood in the Netherlands to the heights of rock stardom in the U.S. and beyond.
“We shared the experience of coming to this country and figuring out how to fit in,” Alex writes in the book. “We shared a record player, an 800-square-foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic.” He reflects on their bond through success, addiction, fatherhood, and music: “We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime.”
In his raw and emotional reflection, Alex Van Halen offers a heartfelt tribute to his brother’s enduring legacy, both as a rock icon and as a sibling who fought through immense personal battles until the very end.
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