Author Nancy French recalled how Van Halen‘s David Lee Roth almost inadvertently ruined her marriage in a new article for the Washington Post. The text centers on French’s wedding to a man named David. Whom she met at the age of 20 and married shortly after. At the time, many of her friends and family were concerned about the quick ceremony. However, French said he pushed them away and plunged into the relationship.
Everything seemed right at the beginning when the couple moved to New York. But within a week, a mysterious stream of women started calling French’s phone asking to speak to David.
The calls were constant and the women insisted that they had seen David a few days earlier. While French’s husband said they were simply dialing the wrong number. The author admitted that she began to worry that her new husband was secretly living a double life and that the concerns of friends and family were legitimate.
David Lee Roth agent called
The mystery was finally unraveled when a man called David one day and got angry while talking to French. Saying things like “All the work must go through me” and “I’ve known David for years”.
When the author identified herself as David’s wife, the man on the phone started to worry, asking, “Why didn’t he tell me about you?” and “Are you … pregnant? Expecting a little David Lee? A child will really hurt our return.”
It was the mention of ‘David Lee’ that finally cleared things up; the man on the phone was David Lee Roth’s agent. As it turned out, Roth had changed the phone number just before French and her husband moved to Manhattan.
David kept giving people the wrong number
But the rockstar continued to deliver the old number – and their number – to the women he met, while also ostensibly forgetting to tell people close to him how they could reach him.
“When rumors of [Van Halen] returning began to appear, our phone rang with congratulations and exclusive party invitations,” wrote French. She added, “At one point, we even got a call from Roth’s father.”
French wrote that her marriage survived not only the phone mess, but much more difficult times. “Over the years, I have learned that our desire for others does not mean that we are an inconvenience or a problem to be solved,” she said.
“As beautifully described in the immortal words of Van Halen’s hit song,‘ You have to deal with the punches to understand what’s real ’”.