Sammy Hagar Issues Apology For Depicting Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Dark Side’

He Regrets Not Writing Anything Positive About EVH

Sammy Hagar has apologized for how he depicted late rock legend Eddie Van Halen in his 2011 autobiography Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. Hagar detailed EVH’s alcoholism and how it severely affected his career. In the memoir, Hagar recalled visiting EVH’s house and finding “bottles and cans all over the floor.”

In a new interview on Brazil’s Inside With Paulo Baron and Regis Tadeu, Hagar apologized and expressed his regret in writing about such sensitive topic and not painting EVH in a more positive light.

“But more than anything, because of the untimely and tragic death of Eddie Van Halen,” Hagar explained. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart for exposing his dark side to where I don’t think anyone wants to hear that now, and, unfortunately, it’s in the book.”

“And it’s true — it’s all true. It’s not like I have to say, ‘Oh, I was lying’ — no, no, no,” he continued. “If I wrote the book today, I would only put the good of Eddie Van Halen, because he was such a brilliant, genius guitar player and such a great friend and a great partner — until everything went wrong, like everything else.”