Eric Dane's Girlfriend Janell Shirtcliff Shares Photos After His Death

Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart have never revealed how they first connected, though Dane admitted it's "probably one of the least interesting stories in the world."

"It went basically like this: 'You wanna go out?'" he recalled to Flaunt magazine in 2008. "'Yeah, sure.' Ten months later, we were married."

After Dane announced he was leaving the TNT drama The Last Ship due to his battle with depression, Gayheart took to Instagram to show her support for her husband.

"Way back when I met my Monday man crush," Gayheart captioned a throwback photo of the couple. 

Gayheart cited "irreconcilable differences" as the cause of the couple's split and sought spousal support and joint legal and physical custody of their daughters Billie and Georgia when she filed for divorce. 

"After 14 years together we have decided that ending our marriage is the best decision for our family," the duo said in a joint statement to E! News at the time. "We will continue our friendship and work as a team to co-parent our two beautiful girls as they are the most important thing in the world to us."

However, the divorce was never finalized, and Dane revealed that the pair were still friends and "great" co-parents when he told Entertainment Tonight in 2019, "We have two kids. It's not complicated...it doesn't have to be."

One decade after the couple made headlines when a nude video with former Miss Teen USA Kari Ann Peniche was published online, Dane addressed the scandal in a rare interview. 

"I often think about that answer I gave. And looking back now, was it a mistake? Absolutely not," he told Glamour of previously describing the incident as a misstep. "Three consenting adults, one of them being my wife? I wasn't doing anything wrong."

He added that his previous comments were "most likely referring to the drug use that was alluded to in the video."

"And was that a mistake? Again, I don't necessarily think I was breaking any laws and corrupting anybody," the Grey's Anatomy alum said. "We were just three people taking a bath."

"I didn't regret it, I have no regrets nor do I make any apologies for my life experience," he concluded. "It's my life experience and I'm at peace with all of it."

After the tape was published in 2009, the couple was forced to take action, and as a result, Dane and Gayheart filed a $1 million copyright infringement against Gawker Media and reportedly settled for upwards of six-figures. 

The pair first sparked rumors of a reconciliation when they jetted off to Europe as a family of four. The Jawbreaker actress shared snaps from the trip showing Dane making a silly face at the camera with their girls.

"This is us," Gayheart captioned the Instagram post. "Family vacay 2022."

In a second pic from their European adventures, the foursome posed together with big smiles on the Parisian streets, as she wrote on the 'gram, "A pit stop in Paris!"

The group then made their way across the coast to St. Tropez, with Gayheart documenting their journey on her Instagram Stories. "My people," she captioned a snap of the fam with a friend. 

January 2023

While she filed for divorce in 2018, Dane and Gayheart kicked off the New Year as one big family.

The Euphoria actor and the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum were photographed walking hand-in-hand off a boat together during a vacation with their two daughters.

March 2025