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Eric Dane Vows to Fight "Until the Last Breath" Amid ALS Battle
Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Dane are navigating his health battle as a family.
Eight months after the Grey’s Anatomy alum shared his diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), his estranged wife candidly detailed how they and their two daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14, have adapted to life with the uncertainty the neurodegenerative disease brings. And that’s why, as much as possible, they are focused on the present.
“We wanna take advantage of the time that he has right now,” Rebecca, 54, shared in an essay for New York magazine’s The Cut published Dec. 29. 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. That was an easy conversation to have.”
She continued, “Some of the harder conversations—about down the line, two or three years from now, what does that look like?—we haven’t really started to have, or we sort of touched on them, but they are just too sad.”
Even unsaid, as the Jawbreaker star admitted, those questions they are not yet ready to face loom over their heads.
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“Lately, I try to stay in the moment, even though there’s no escaping thinking about the future,” she noted. “I worry so much about my girls losing their father—they’re going through this while experiencing all the pressures that are put on young girls, and I want to do everything in my power to give them the tools they’ll need. They will be different because of this. I know that.”
Though Rebecca and Eric, 53, separated in 2017, they’ve remained a steadfast unit throughout this difficult time, whether it’s been advocating their health insurance to ensure he has nurses helping to care for him at home or taking on shifts herself.
But as she’s been “one foot in front of the other” to ensure her family is the support they need, Rebecca knows once she takes a moment to process all they have been going through, it’s “gonna be beyond heartbreaking.”
“I am trying very much to help my kids, Eric, myself, all of us to get through this knowing that death is a part of the life cycle,” she explained. “And in this case, we are very unlucky in many, many ways. But we’re also blessed in that we know that time is the most valuable thing, and we can use it wisely.”
For more insight into how Eric and his family are doing amid his battle, keep reading...
(VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
Opening Up About His Private Health Battle
Eric Dane shared that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in April 2025.
"I have been diagnosed with ALS,” Dane told People at the time. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”
Todd Williamson/January Images/Shutterstock
Returning to Set
The Euphoria star made it clear that he wasn’t stepping away from the screen amid his diagnosis, sharing in April 2025 that he was continuing to film the final season of the HBO series.
And Dane, whose Amazon MGM Studios series Countdown debuted over the summer, admitted that acting has kept him “sharp” has he navigates his health battle.
"I feel great when I'm at work," he explained to E! News in June 2025. "Of course, there have been some sort of setbacks, but I feel pretty good. My spirit is always pretty buoyant, so at the end of the day, that's all that matters."
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Detailing His First Symptoms
Two months after sharing his diagnosis, the Grey’s Anatomy alum spoke candidly about his journey, including the symptoms that led to his diagnosis.
"I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand," Dane told Diane Sawyer in a sit-down on Good Morning America in June 2025. "I didn’t really think anything of it at the time. I thought maybe I’d been texting too much or my hand was fatigued, but a few weeks later I noticed it got a little worse."
After nine months of appointments, which involved visiting two hand specialists and two neurologists, Dane was told he had ALS.
"I will never forget those three letters," the father of two explained. "It's on me the second I wake up. It's not a dream."
John Salangsang/Shutterstock
“Sobering" Road Ahead
While sharing how the rare degenerative disease has affected him physically so far, he also detailed where he sees the progression headed.
“My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working," Dane shared during his interview with Sawyer. "I feel like maybe a couple more months, and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering."
Rob Latour/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
A Close-Knit Support System
As Dane goes through this health battle, his wife of over 20 years, Rebecca Gayheart, who filed to dismiss their 2018 divorce in March, has been by his side.
“I call Rebecca. I talk to her every day,” Dane shared during his interview with Sawyer. “We have managed to become better friends and better parents, and she is probably my biggest champion and my most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her."
According to Gayheart, she and Dane are the “best of friends.”
“We are really close. We are great co-parents,” the Beverly Hills, 90210 star explained to E! News April 9, 2025. “We really figured out the formula to staying a family and I think our kids are benefiting greatly from it and we are as well.”
Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images
Prioritizing Family Time
While Dane has been marking milestones with his and Gayheart’s daughters Billie and Georgia, he’s admitted he resents how his ALS is affecting the lives of his family members.
"I'm angry, because my father was taken from me when I was young," the actor, whose father died by suicide when he was a young boy, said during his GMA interview. "And now there's a very good chance I'm going to be taken from my girls while they're very young. At the end of the day, all I want to do is spend time with my family and work a little bit, if I can."
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images & VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
Emmys Absence
Dane was set to present at the 2025 Emmys alongside his Grey's Anatomy costar Jesse Williams on Sept. 14 but ended up missing the award show. A few weeks after his absence, Dane shared that he had to skip the show because of a hospital visit.
“ALS is a nasty disease," he said during an interview with The Washington Post published on Oct. 2. "So I was in the hospital during the Emmys getting stitches put in my head."
"I was a really upset about it,” Dane added. “But you know, there was nothing I could do about it."
Chelsea Lauren/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
His Hopes for the Future
Dane met with doctors and representatives from the I Am ALS organization in September, 2025, and spoke with California congressman Eric Swalwell about federal funding towards research for the currently incurable neurological disease.
“I wanna ring every bell,” Dane told Swalwell in a TikTok video posted by the politician on Sept. 29. “I have two daughters at home. I wanna see them graduate college, get married, maybe have grandkids.”
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