With a passion for the arts and approval from the family, Andraia Allsop is pretty much the perfect partner for her rock star husband.
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00:00With a passion for the arts and approval from the family,
00:03Andrea Alsop is pretty much the perfect partner for her rock star husband.
00:07Andrea Alsop and Wolfgang Van Halen met the very modern way online back in 2015,
00:13but it wasn't on a dating app.
00:14Did you slide into her DMs? I think it was a mutual sliding.
00:18It was, yeah. Should I be hearing this?
00:21We slid at the same time and collided.
00:23Alsop made such a positive impression on Van Halen that he can still recall
00:27exactly where he was when they sent their first correspondence.
00:30As he told People magazine in 2023,
00:32"[It was on the last Van Halen tour. We were about to play Red Rocks and it was
00:36the day off before we played that I got my first text message from her and it was like,
00:40oh my gosh."
00:41Van Halen and Alsop soon met up in person for a first date in Los Angeles that included sushi,
00:46sunset watching, and stargazing. As Van Halen reminisced,
00:49"...it felt like this is meant to be. It's cheesy to say, but definitely love at first sight."
00:54It seems fair to say that Alsop has her mother-in-law's seal of approval.
00:58After all, Valerie Bertinelli also knows what it's like to marry a member of a rock and roll family.
01:03The actor and TV personality married Wolfgang's dad Eddie Van Halen in 1981,
01:07though they ended up divorcing in 2007. Fortunately,
01:10Bertinelli believes that her son and daughter-in-law are a match made in heaven.
01:14As she gushed to People in 2023,
01:16"...it brings me such a nice sense of peace knowing Wolfie and Andrea have each other
01:19for the rest of their lives. They really get one another. Their humor is very similar,
01:24they like similar things, they know how to give each other space,
01:27and they're just so comfortable together."
01:29Bertinelli also believes that her late ex-husband, who died in 2020,
01:32would have been just as delighted. As she put it,
01:34"...Ed would have been absolutely beaming and so, so proud of the man Wolfie has become
01:39and is becoming and is so happy that he has found Andrea, someone who really understands
01:43Wolfie, who he is, and who he wants to be and supports him wholeheartedly."
01:47"...could I be more proud of my boy?"
01:48One of the many unique and touching features of Allsopp and Van Halen's 2023 wedding was
01:53their choice of flower girls. Instead of handing the duties to the younger members of her family,
01:57Allsopp tasked her grandmothers with the role, and there was a heartwarming reason for choosing
02:01experience over youth. As the bride explained to People,
02:04"...back in March, my grandfather passed away. But when he and my grandma got married
02:08in the early 1990s, I was about three, and so I was their flower girl. So I thought it
02:12would be fitting and just a nice little moment to have my mom's mom and my dad's mom be our
02:16flower girls."
02:17Does anything say I love you more than agreeing to have a Swedish extreme metal outfit blast out
02:22of the speakers at your wedding? Well, Andrea Allsopp proved that she was truly head over
02:26heels when she agreed to that very thing while getting hitched to Wolfgang Van Halen.
02:30She told People magazine ahead of their ceremony,
02:32"...when I talked to our DJ, he was very excited about our vision.
02:35The one thing that I want, I want Wolfie to have his moment of one of his favorite bands,
02:39Meshuggah."
02:40Meanwhile, the song that Allsopp and Van Halen chose for their first dance was much less intense,
02:44as they opted for Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes, which appealed to both of their tastes.
02:48Van Halen told Consequence,
02:50"...there's a concert before our wedding that we're going to see that's Peter Gabriel,
02:53because he's on tour right now and he's just one of our favorite artists.
02:56So is one of my favorite albums of all time, and it was one of my dad's favorite albums of
03:00all time. So I've just had a connection with Peter Gabriel and his music forever,
03:04and simultaneously, my fiancé is a fan as well. So we couldn't think of a better song."
03:09In 2016, Allsopp graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in computer science.
03:14Since entering into a relationship with Van Halen, however, it seems she's been
03:18busy pursuing other interests. Anyone hoping to peruse Allsopp's Instagram for insights
03:22into her personal life will be out of luck, as her personal profile is set to private.
03:26But she does have a separate account that shows off her passion for photography.
03:30She clearly has a keen eye, and it appears that she specializes in rock music gigs — specifically,
03:35rock music gigs fronted by her husband, as the vast majority of the photos she's posted
03:39feature Van Halen doing his thing on stage. The photos that don't showcase her husband include
03:43a souvenir of her trip to Buckingham Palace, snaps of a bumblebee, and various stage equipment,
03:48and a selfie taken in Chicago. But perhaps best of all are the various pet cats with
03:52names like Sir Henry, Andy, Reese, and Bubby Bubberson.
03:56Meow!
03:58Eddie Van Halen died from cancer three years before his son got married. But Andrea Allsopp
04:03was determined to ensure that her late father-in-law was still a part of the occasion.
04:06While speaking to People magazine about wedding preparations, she revealed it was her decision
04:10to incorporate Eddie in everything from the seating arrangements to the photo displays.
04:14As she explained,
04:15"...we'll be having an empty chair that would have been his at the ceremony.
04:18We cleared out all the bookshelves and we've just lined them with photos of our family,
04:22our loved ones, people who've passed, people who couldn't make it. We want everyone included,
04:26and everyone to be able to also think of them, on our special day."
04:30Wolfgang also walked down the aisle with his mom to an instrumental piece entitled
04:33316, which was written by his father. Allsopp also revealed that, like her soon-to-be husband,
04:38she had suffered loss on her side of the family.
04:41The past few years, not only with the world, but also with personal tragedies,
04:45haven't been the easiest. But we wanted to create this wedding as a celebration not
04:48only just for us to get married, but a celebration for the people we love.
04:53Wolfgang Van Halen undoubtedly went through a tough time when he lost his father to cancer.
04:57He had been playing in his dad's eponymous band since the age of 15,
05:01and with the rest of the group deciding to disband soon after Eddie's death,
05:04he suddenly found himself at a crossroads. Wolfgang joined Guns N' Roses' live setup
05:08for a brief period, but then he decided it was time to launch a solo career.
05:12Instead of capitalizing on his famous surname, he decided to release records
05:15under the moniker of Mammoth WVH, and his wife couldn't be prouder of him.
05:20Allsopp told People magazine,
05:21"...one of the things that I love about Wolfie is his motivation. He is in such
05:25a unique situation where he could take an easy path, or he could take the path of playing every
05:29instrument, creating his own band, and making a name of himself, and that's the path that he
05:33has chosen. And I'm so proud of that. Wolfie is the hardest worker, and so I really love that about
05:38him."
05:38Allsopp has joined her rock star husband, and sometimes her mother-in-law, at numerous public
05:43events over the years, including the Music Cares Person of the Year Gala, the Grammys,
05:47and even the Oscars. So you might think that Allsopp and Van Halen can take all the glitz
05:51and glamour in stride by now, but their preparations for the 96th Academy Awards in
05:552024 were actually quite anxiety-inducing. Van Halen was there as part of Ryan Gosling's
06:00backing band to perform the best original song nominee,
06:03I'm Just Ken, from Barbie. As Allsopp described it to People,
06:06"...it actually felt like we were getting ready for our wedding today."
06:08Van Halen actually believed that his wife was understating things, as he said,
06:12"...I think it was more stressful getting ready today."
06:14"...I'm starting to think that Barbie couldn't have been made without you."
06:17All that nervous energy didn't quite translate to awards gold, though,
06:20as I'm Just Ken lost to another track from Barbie, Billie Eilish's What Was I Made For?
06:25Andrea Allsopp might not be as famous as her rock star husband or TV star mother-in-law,
06:30but she is gradually building up her own showbiz resume. Her IMDb page doesn't list too many
06:34credits, although back in 2012, she was credited as Flower Babe in the music video for Muscle
06:39Hawk's Electric Light. More recently, Allsopp has appeared several times on her mother-in-law's show,
06:44Valerie's Home Cooking. In the starry Movie Night episode, she and her husband are treated to
06:48homemade outdoor cinema snacks whipped up by Bertinelli. And in the Only the Best for My Wolfie
06:52episode, she helps her husband celebrate his birthday by tucking into various dishes like
06:56spatchcock chicken, sweet potato fries, and vanilla cake. When she's not supporting her
07:01husband on the red carpet, or taking photos of him rocking out, or guesting on her mother-in-law's
07:05shows, Andrea Allsopp likes nothing more than chilling at home with her man. She divulged to
07:10People magazine,
07:11"...home could be anywhere. It could be a hotel room, it could be a bus, or it could be our
07:15actual house. Home is just where the two of us are."
07:17That sentiment was echoed by her husband, who explained,
07:20"...I think with our life and the way things are, the best thing, and our favorite thing to do,
07:24is to just be next to each other. Home is where we are together."