Rebecca Gayheart Recalls Eric Dane’s Final Days: ‘He Was in Control of the Way He Was Going to Leave’

Brenton BlanchetTue, November 3, 2026 at 3:30 PM UTC

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Rebecca Gayheart and Eric DaneCredit: Stephen Lovekin/Variety/Penske Media via Getty -

Rebecca Gayheart looked back at her final moments with Eric Dane in a new interview promoting the release of his posthumous memoir

Gayheart said Dane and their daughters “tried to make it as nice as you can be in the hospital room” and played his favorite music during their last visit together

My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is available now wherever books are sold

Rebecca Gayheart is remembering her final days with Eric Dane.

In an interview that aired on the Today show Tuesday, Nov. 3, promoting the release of Dane’s posthumous memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, Gayheart recalled Dane’s last trip to the hospital and how she and their daughters — Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14 — didn’t know it would be his final visit.

The Euphoria actor died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) on Feb. 19, at age 53, a year after announcing the diagnosis in April 2025.

“He had gone to the hospital so many times before, and they would patch him up, so to speak, and he would come home,” Gayheart, 55, told Maria Shriver during the interview. “And he’d be okay. And we’d go back to the normal routine, which did change week by week.”

‘My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments’ by Eric DaneCredit: The Open Field

As the actress explained, she and their children “never, ever anticipated” him dying in February, and she planned to “be back” before leaving for the hospital.

“I had no idea that that was it, that that week was going to be our last week,” Gayheart said. “And nor did my daughters. It really took a few days for us to understand the gravity of what that last trip to the hospital meant.”

“Everything shifted” by Dane’s third day in the hospital, Gayheart recalled, including “the tone of when the doctors were talking to us, and some of the information we were given.”

“He was fully aware it was shifting, and he was still communicating with us. Not well verbally, but I could understand him most of the time. The kids could most of the time, his closest friends,” she said, adding that Dane knew he was dying and “was figuring it out as we went.”

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“But I remember the moment Eric decided to make some choices, and he did. ... He was in control of the way he was going to leave,” Gayheart said.

Gayheart said she and their daughters “camped out there with him,” brought battery-operated candles, played Dane’s favorite music and “tried to make it as nice as you can be in the hospital room.”

Gayheart and Dane married in 2004 and filed for divorce in 2018, before Gayheart requested to dismiss the divorce in March 2025, with both parties signing off on the documents. Dane announced his diagnosis to PEOPLE the following month and said he was “grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”

“A lot of people will say, ‘Well, at least you knew, and you could have those last conversations,’” Gayheart said on Today. “But we didn’t know, because there is no road map. No one can tell you what the journey looks like because it’s so different for every patient.”

She added, “He was becoming more alive mentally, but losing all of his physical abilities. And for the girls, that was really hard to watch as well. But overal, it’s a blur because it was just so overwhelming.”

During Dane’s journey with the illness, Gayheart became a key caretaker for him and shared in an essay for The Cut in December that she managed his care team. Speaking with PEOPLE in September at Step Up’s 2026 Annual Inspiration Awards, Gayheart said she and her kids had been “hanging in there” in the months since.

“I think it’s definitely a challenging season, but we’re doing our best,” she said. “The girls are both in high school, which is also a big transition under any circumstance, so I’m just staying close to my kids.”

My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is available now wherever books are sold.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”