As Hollywood tributes to the late Eric Dane continue to flood social media, one of his former “Grey’s Anatomy” co-stars suggests he wasn’t as reformed as his character on the show.
Laura Ann Tull, who says she worked as an extra on the ABC medical drama for three years, wrote that the San Francisco native “was a bully and an a hole” via Threads on Friday, Feb. 20, just one day after Dane died.
“He was a coward who abused me. Bullied me. Made fun of me. When I had beaten cancer. When I was getting sick with an autoimmune disease. He was a stuck on himself narcissist,” her post read. “His dying doesn’t change destruction he caused me.”
Dane died Thursday, Feb. 19, after a years-long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 53.
His breakthrough role as Dr. Mark Sloan, better known as McSteamy, came in 2005. Introduced as a sexy but toxic, self-obsessed womanizer, Sloan evolved into a caring, loyal and well-rounded character as the seasons progressed. He was killed off the show in Season 9 in 2012, though his character’s legacy continues to live on through the name of the show’s fictional homebase, Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Sloan also appeared briefly in Season 17 during a Meredith Grey’s beach hallucination she has while battling COVID-19.
“One of the things I loved about Eric was his sensitivity and vulnerability, (and intelligence, of course),” Kate Walsh, the San Jose native who played his first love interest on the show, Dr. Addison Montgomery, wrote on Instagram. “He had the gravitas & old soul that made his work magnetic and made him a great friend off set.”
Several of Dane’s other “Grey’s Anatomy” co-stars, such as Katherine Heigl, Chyler Leigh and Kim Raver, as well as the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes, have also shared heartfelt tributes.
But Tull insists that their praise is grossly undeserved.
“His narcissistic ego & bullying snotty behavior destroyed my health & well being,” she posted to Threads on Thursday, explaining that he “hated” her for reading classic literature and gossiped about her without ever having spoken to her.
Tull’s comments have drawn pushback from throngs of fans online, many of whom have deemed her an “attention seeker” and criticized her for disrespecting his memory. She has engaged with dozens of comments and critiques since Dane’s death via Threads, defending her position.
In subsequent posts, Tull alleges she was “wrongfully terminated” from the show for being sick.
Tull also claims that she was the reason Dane was eventually fired from the show, though he suggested during a 2024 appearance on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast that it was due to budget constraints.
During that episode, and in later interviews released after his death, he also acknowledged he was struggling with substance abuse at the time, though he noted that it wasn’t the main reason he was dismissed from the show.
This article originally published at ‘He was a coward’: Eric Dane’s ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ co-star describes him as ‘a bully’ after death from ALS.