- - Eric Dane 'Started Weeping' When He Told Ex Rebecca Gayheart About His ALS Diagnosis

Staff AuthorDecember 29, 2025 at 10:06 PM

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Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane attend the 2nd Annual Hollywood Beauty Awards on Feb. 21, 2016 -

Rebecca Gayheart is sharing her reaction to the moment Eric Dane told her about his ALS diagnosis

The actress reflected on the moment in a new essay for The Cut, published on Monday, Dec. 29

Dane announced his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis in April

Rebecca Gayheart is recalling the moment Eric Dane revealed his ALS diagnosis to her.

In a new essay for The Cut, titled "In Sickness and in Health," the actress and estranged wife of the Euphoria star revealed that both she and Dane, 53, were "weeping" when he told her her about his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis.

Gayheart, 54, shared in the essay — published on Monday, Dec. 29 — that Dane called her from a doctor's office in San Francisco, where he had seen a neurologist. Dane later went public with his diagnosis in April 2025.

"His symptoms started maybe a year prior. When we would have a meal with the kids, he’d say things like, 'Something’s wrong with my hand,' " she wrote. "He was struggling to use his chopsticks, dropping his food. That was when he started seeing doctors. He was initially diagnosed with a few other things, but he had this sinking feeling that it was something more serious."

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Eric Dane attends the Los Angeles premiere of Prime Video's 'Countdown' on June 18, 2025

Gayheart, who wrote that she was initially insistent that it wasn't anything serious, explained what happened when Dane later broke the news to her. "When he told me that day, he just started weeping, as did I," she shared. "It didn’t feel real because he was still okay."

She added: "I was here at home with my youngest daughter — my home, that I share with just the girls, since Eric and I separated in September 2017 — and I’d gone into my closet to take the call, trying to be private. She was saying, 'Mommy, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?' I tried telling her, 'Honey, nothing. Everything’s fine,' because I couldn’t process it. I didn’t know all the details like I do now, but I knew enough about ALS to know that there wasn’t a cure."

Dane met Gayheart in 2003 and the pair wed less than a year later in Las Vegas. They welcomed their first daughter, Billie Beatrice, in 2010, and a second daughter, Georgia Geraldine, in 2011. The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress filed for divorce in February 2018 but then requested to dismiss the petition in March 2025.

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Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart attend the 43rd AFI Life Achievement Award Gala on June 4, 2015

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While the pair have dated other people, she explained in her new essay that she lives 12 minutes from Dane's home, where they have "a lot of meals together" and "a lot of drop-by visits" with their children. "He made it very clear that he wants to spend time with his family as much as possible, and I am committed to facilitating that," she wrote.

Gayheart acknowledged that their dynamic is "confusing" for people, but said she always wants "the best for him." She added, "It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love."

Speaking with Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer in June, Dane said he talks to Gayheart every day. "We have managed to become better friends and better parents," he said. "And she is probably my biggest champion, my most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her."

When announcing his diagnosis with PEOPLE earlier this year, Dane shared in a statement that he was "grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter."

In December, Maria Shriver’s Penguin Random House publishing imprint, The Open Field, announced his forthcoming memoir, set to arrive in 2026. Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments will cover the days of Dane's life that "have meant the most, including when his daughters were born, his first day on set on Grey’s Anatomy, the moment he decided to get sober, the day he received his ALS diagnosis, and that hopeful day in the future when ALS is finally cured," per a press release.

The book will encourage readers to "consider their own time and how, amidst the noise and chaos of everyday life, we can learn to celebrate the days that matter the most."

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