‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Eric Dane has been diagnosed with ALS
ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a degenerative disorder that slowly results in the loss of the ability to walk, speak, swallow, and, ultimately, breathe independently.
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Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart’s love story didn’t get the traditional ending, but there’s still a lot of heart.
The former “Grey’s Anatomy” star’s estranged wife, who’s been married to Dane since 2004, opened up about the pair’s unique relationship dynamic in a candid personal essay for The Cut published Monday, Dec. 29.
“Eric and I have known each other for a million years now; we met in 2003. I care about him deeply,” Gayheart, 54, wrote. “We had a really lovely marriage for a long time. … We created two beautiful girls. But also, lots of [stuff] went crazy in our relationship, and it wasn’t good.”
Gayheart filed for divorce from Dane in 2018, following 14 years of marriage, before dismissing the case earlier this year, according to E! and People magazine.
In April, she told E! that the former couple remains the “best of friends,” while Dane told Diane Sawyer in a June interview that Gayheart is “probably my biggest champion, my most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her.”
“We haven’t lived in the same home for eight years. He’s dated other people; I’ve dated someone,” Gayheart continued in her The Cut essay. “It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love.”
Gayheart and Dane’s family bond has become an emotional refuge as Dane, 53, battles amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS. Commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS is a nervous system condition that can impact the brain and spinal cord.
“Eric knows that I am always going to want the best for him,” Gayheart wrote. “That I’m going to do my best to do right by him. And I know he would do the same for me. So, whatever I can do or however I can show up to make this journey better for him or easier for him, I want to do that.”
Gayheart, who shares teen daughters Billie and Georgia with Dane, says she does a lot of “drop-by visits” and family meals with her estranged spouse.
“We wanna take advantage of the time that he has right now,” Gayheart wrote. “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.”
So far, a cure has not been identified for ALS. People with the disease generally live from three to five years after symptoms develop, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“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,” Gayheart wrote. “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.
“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.”
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman and Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY