In the latest season ‘All There Is With Anderson Cooper,’ Van Halen drummer Alex Van Halen talked about his brother Eddie Van Halen’s passing and how it caught him off guard.
“None of us really thought he was gonna die,” he explained. “He’d always bounced back. He had the most incredible DNA that I’ve ever seen in anybody. He could do more and more drugs than anybody and still wake up the next day and perform. I don’t think anybody really thought he was gonna die. So when he passed, it was really a shock.”
“I don’t think he knew [he was dying]. Being human, you think you’re gonna go on one more day, one more day. You keep going forward,” the drummer continued. “But then one day you don’t. So up to the very end, we were still making music and we talked about, what are we gonna do next year? But it was clear that he was going downhill.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, Alex admitted he is still ‘grieving all the time’ and becomes very emotional when listening to Eddie’s music.
Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alex’s direct interactions with his brother were limited. However, he was by Eddie’s side when the guitarist passed away. “He had a massive stroke. We were in the room with him when he actually took his last breath,” Alex recalled. “We just sat there. Everybody was in their own headspace.”
Alex’s memoir, ‘Brothers’ has been called a tribute to his younger brother. The book comes out as Alex continues to mourn the unexpected death of Eddie. The book came out in late October.
