Rebecca Gayheart Opens up About Late Husband Eric Dane’s ALS Diagnosis

Nine months after Eric Dane passed away amid his battle with ALS, the late actor’s wife, Rebecca Gayheart, reflects on his diagnosis.

While appearing on Today, the actress spoke about Dane’s passing. “I thought Eric would still be here with us right now,” she said. “We never, ever anticipated that we would lose him in February.”

Gayheart then recalled when she first found out that Dane was diagnosed with ALS in 2024. “The first thing I thought about was just my daughters losing their father and how that was going to be on them,” she shared. “And then I thought, ‘OK, what do we have to do?’”

The actress stood by Dane throughout his battle with ALS. The couple married in 2004 and shared two daughters, Billie and Georgia. Although Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018, she and Dane never finalized the split.

“I mean, it was very simple to me,” she continued. “We were together for so long; we created two beautiful daughters. We had been separated for also a very long time, over eight years. He had other girlfriends, and I had dated someone. But it just wasn’t even a question. Of course we were gonna be there, as a family, with him to go through this.”

Gayheart also found a silver lining to Dane’s ALS diagnosis. “Something definitely was awakened in him when he was diagnosed that I think he really never felt before. He became a different person, in a way. He really valued his life suddenly and every minute of how he was going to spend his life.”

Dane announced his battle with ALS in the spring of 2025. Gayheart described the situation as both “a gift and a curse.”

“He was relieved of that mental anguish that he had his entire life,” she pointed out.

Regarding how her and Dane’s daughters are moving forward, Gayheart added, “I can’t give my daughters their dad back. It’s a great, tremendous loss for them. I think he really wants the girls to fight for themselves and advocate for their happiness and their joy and their mental health. They have a lot of Eric in them. I think they got all the best parts.”