Rebecca Gayheart opens up about ‘complicated’ relationship with Eric Dane and why she wanted to be his end-of-life caretaker

Raechal ShewfeltWed, November 4, 2026 at 1:33 AM UTC

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Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane on Dec. 4, 2006Credit: Paul Redmond/WireImageKey Points -

Rebecca Gayheart talked about her relationship with late husband Eric Dane on Tuesday as she promoted his posthumous memoir.

Dane died Feb. 19 following a diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The couple shared two teenage daughters, whom Gayheart said are “so grateful” to have his story.

Rebecca Gayheart says her late husband Eric Dane was much different than the Grey’s Anatomy character he played.

“I think the women in the world see him as this hunky ‘McSteamy’ or whatever, but Eric was a big nerd inside of that handsome body of his,” she said Tuesday on Today. “You know, he was really nerdy and very smart and very different than what you would expect. And it was really painful, watching every day ALS take away another physical ability.”

Dane, 53, died Feb. 19, less than a year after revealing that he’d been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. In that short time, the Euphoria star became an advocate for himself and others struggling with the condition.

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Though he and Gayheart, who married in 2004, had been separated since 2018, the Jawbreaker actress chose to take care of Dane after he got sick. The mother of two daughters with Dane — Billie, 16, and 14-year-old Georgia — filed a request to dismiss her divorce filing in March 2025.

“I mean, it was very simple to me,” Gayheart told Maria Shriver. “We were together for so long. We created two beautiful daughters.”

They had been separated for “also a very long time, over eight years. He had other girlfriends and, you know, I dated someone, but it just wasn’t even a question,” she said, but “of course we were gonna be there as a family with him to go through this.”

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When Shriver asked Gayheart if she considers herself a widow, she answered, “I feel solo in a way that is hard. I don’t have that person to celebrate my daughter getting her driver’s license.”

And it’s not just a person that she grieves, it’s her person or at least someone who had a special place in her life.

Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane with their daughters Georgia and BillieCredit: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage

“I miss Eric. I knew Eric deeply and we were married almost 15 years and, yes, have a complex, complicated relationship that doesn’t fit into anyone’s box,” Gayheart said. “But we always landed in a place of agreement that we were a family and that we wanted our kids to have two parents who didn’t hate each other.”

The actress said her daughters are “so grateful” to have Dane’s memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, which was released on Tuesday.

”It answered a lot of questions they had,” Gayheart said. “They have his story, in his words, written the way he wants it to be written, told how he wants it to be told. It’s such a gift for my daughters.”

My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is in bookstores now.

on Entertainment Weekly

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