Reelz has released a “sneak peek” at “Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Eddie Van Halen”, which will premiere on Sunday, June 5 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Check it out below.
“Autopsy: The Last Hours Of…” is a documentary series that reveals the truth behind the controversial deaths of global icons and people whose untimely deaths were surrounded by scandal and intense media attention. Fact and fiction are forever separated through reconstructions of their final hours using crucial medical evidence from the actual autopsies to explain how and why they died while interviews with friends and family shed light on the events that led to death — finally putting an end to the speculation.
“Autopsy: The Last Hours Of Eddie Van Halen” official description: “On October 6, 2020 the world was shocked by the news that guitar legend Eddie Van Halen had died. A rock prodigy with a boyish charm he was never more comfortable than when he had a guitar in his hand. Known as the founder of VAN HALEN, the band that became synonymous with California cool, Eddie was actually of both Dutch and Indonesian heritage. His family moved to California from the Netherlands when Eddie was a child. Eddie came to America without knowing English but by the time he was 25 years old his band had sold multiple platinum albums and his innovative guitar techniques cemented him in rock and roll history. But behind his contagious smile there was a darker undercurrent that would plague Eddie throughout his life. As an extremely shy kid Eddie started drinking alcohol at just 12 years old to calm his nerves after seeing his father drink to calm himself and for the next four decades Eddie wrestled with addiction issues. Often relying on alcohol and other substances to maintain his creativity Eddie would spend many years in and out of rehab. He was a workaholic often pushing his body to the limits in order to perform while secretly battling illness. Eddie died at the age of 65 from cancer but if caught early Eddie‘s disease had reasonable survival rates so what exactly happened? Now renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Hunter will analyze every detail of his life in order to piece together what else may have been going on in his body, ultimately leading to his untimely death.”
Two months after Eddie‘s passing, TMZ obtained his death certificate, which revealed the immediate cause of death was a cerebrovascular event, such as a stroke. Pneumonia, the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome and lung cancer were also cited as underlying causes. The certificate also listed a number of other “significant conditions” that contributed to Eddie‘s death, including squamous cell carcinoma (skin cancer) of the head and neck, and atrial fibrillation, a condition that causes irregular heartbeat and elevates stroke risk.
Eddie was cremated on October 28, 2020 — 22 days after he died. The ashes went to Eddie‘s son, the now-31-year-old Wolfgang Van Halen.
One of Eddie‘s final wishes was reportedly for the ashes to be scattered off the coast of Malibu, California.
Eddie died at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California. His wife, Janie, was by his side, along with his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, Wolfgang and Alex, Eddie‘s brother and VAN HALEN drummer.
After undergoing hip replacement surgery in 1999 due to a chronic joint problem, Eddie was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had to have part of his tongue surgically removed. Declared “cancer-free” in 2002, he subsequently had to intermittently have “cancer cells scraped out of his throat after they migrated there.” He later battled lung cancer and had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. Things took a turn for the worse in early 2019 when Eddie got in a motorcycle accident. He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and received gamma knife radiosurgery to treat the illness.
During an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” in November 2020, Wolfgang discussed his father’s condition during the last few years of his life. He said: “At the end of 2017, [Eddie] was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. And the doctors were like, ‘You have six weeks.'”
Wolfgang confirmed TMZ‘s report that Eddie had sought alternative cancer treatments in Germany, and credited those visits with helping to add years to the guitarist’s life. “Whatever the fuck they do over there, it’s amazing because I got three more years with him,” Wolfgang said.
After Eddie‘s motorcycle accident, he “found out that he had a brain tumor,” Wolfgang said. From there, “shit kept stacking up and stacking up. It just never let up.”
Following Eddie‘s death, fans left flowers at his childhood home on Las Lunas Street in Pasadena, California. Additional flowers, candles and fan mementos were placed on Allen Avenue where Eddie and Alex scratched their band’s name into the wet cement of a sidewalk when they were teenagers.
VAN HALEN was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2007.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Eddie Van Halen No. 8 in its list of the 100 greatest guitarists.
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