Valerie Bertinelli Shares Throwback Photo With Wolfgang Van Halen, Who Looks Just Like His Dad
On April 17, Valerie Bertinelli posted a throwback photo from when she was filming her sitcom, Hot in Cleveland. It showed her standing alongside her real son, Wolfgang Van Halen, and her on-screen son, Joe Jonas.
She captioned the photo, "2010 my son visiting the Hot in Cleveland set when someone else was playing my son. Acting is so weird."
Bertinelli married rock musician, Eddie Van Halen, in 1981. Their son, Wolfgang, was born in 1991. However, the pair separated in 2001. In her autobiography, Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time, she revealed that the divorce was partially due to his drug addiction and his refusal to quit smoking.
Wolfgang is a musician, singer, and songwriter who performed as the bassist for Van Halen from 2007 to 2020. Since his father's death in 2020, he has been working on his solo project, Mammoth.
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On March 16, when he celebrated his 35thbirthday, Bertinelli posted another photo of him, capturing him playing in the grass as a child. It was captioned, "Our days of [wrestling] in the grass may be over, but looking over these pictures one thing is incredibly clear. Every day of my life has had more joy, more fun, more laughter, more meaning, more clarity, and more love because you came into it. The best day of my life was March 16, 1991 and every day since then has been pure magic. I love you to the moon and back."
One of the comments underneath the Instagram photo of Wolfgang and Jonas on the Hot in Cleveland set said, "Wolfgang looks so much like Ed here." Another raved, "Joe Jonas playing your son on the show was the most iconic thing for me."
The sitcom, which starred Bertinelli alongside Betty White, Jane Leeves, and Wendie Malick, premiered in 2010. It was TV Land's highest rated telecast in their 14-year history. The show followed three middle-aged best friends who leased a house with their sassy caretaker, played by White. The show lasted six seasons, ending in 2015.
Jonas appeared on the show when he was 20, playing the son of Bertinelli's character who was stopping in to say hello on his way to college. At the time, he told TV Guide, "The scenes are really funny. Anyone from any age will get the role and enjoy it."
Hot in Cleveland is currently available to watch for free on Pluto TV.
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This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 7:36 AM.