Alex Van Halen Says 'I Owe My Life' to Wife Stine, Who Helped Him Kick Drug Addiction in the 1990s

• Alex Van Halen's new memoir, Brothers, is out now
• In the book, Alex writes about how his wife, Stine Schyberg, helped him stop using drugs
• "I owe that woman my life," writes the Van Halen drummer

Alex Van Halen credits wife Stine Schyberg with saving his life after he developed a drug addiction while on tour with Van Halen in the 1990s.

Alex, the legendary rock band's drummer, unpacks his relationship with Stine in his new memoir Brothers (out now), written in honor of his late brother and bandmate Eddie Van Halen.

In Brothers, Alex, 71, says leading a promiscuous life, as rock stars are wont to do, eventually became a “one-dimensional,” tiresome “routine” — but everything changed when he stumbled upon his “cosmic connection” with Stine, 59.

“I literally owe my life to Stine, my wife of almost 30 years,” writes Alex, who married the designer and art director in 2000. They share son Malcolm, 25.

In the 1970s, Alex suffered a vertebral injury in a boating accident — and by the time Van Halen’s Balance Tour rolled around in 1995, he was dealing with intense neck pain and sleeping troubles. The star writes that Van Halen’s tour manager gave him two Valiums to help him cope. Before long, he was hooked.

Once the tour ended and Alex returned home, he was “totally addicted” to benzodiazepines, writing that he “walked through life with my head in a fluffy cloud for six months.”

For Stine, the situation was all too familiar. She lost her brother, also a drummer, to a heroin overdose, and had experience getting through to someone suffering from addiction, Alex writes. 

“I owe that woman my life. She loved me enough — and was strong enough — to say, ‘I’m out of here,’ when she saw me slipping into addiction,” he writes. “I can still see her walking out the door with our cat in a box.”

Eventually, Stine and their cat Emma moved back home. Though it was “hell for four or five weeks” as he came down from the drugs, Alex eventually got clean. 

The star writes that he ultimately found a way to protect himself from the pressures of fame in ways his brother, who also struggled with addiction, never could before his 2020 death.

“Losing Stine was the only price I wasn’t willing to pay for the drug. Once I make my mind up about something, there’s no stopping me,” Alex writes in the book. “With Stine I was able to carve out a home, a zone that had nothing to do with work or fame. Ed was never able to create that.” 

Eddie was married to actress Valerie Bertinelli from 1981 to 2007. He tied the knot with Janie Liszewski in 2009. The iconic guitarist died of cancer in October 2020 at age 65.

Brothers is a tribute to Eddie and Alex’s childhood together and their meteoric rise to fame in Van Halen.

“This book is a fascinating story of a band – and so much more: it’s also a chronicle of family and talent and the passion to create,” the book’s editor Sara Nelson said in a statement. “It is the definitive take on Edward Van Halen’s life and death from the one who knew and loved him best.”