What To Know
- Rebecca Gayheart made her first broadcast appearance since Eric Dane’s death to discuss his posthumous memoir, My Book of Days.
- Gayheart said Dane, who died of ALS at 53, came to value life more after his diagnosis and found relief from lifelong mental anguish.
- Despite their separation, Gayheart cared for Dane alongside their two daughters and said his death in February was unexpected.
Rebecca Gayheart is commemorating the release of Eric Dane‘s posthumous memoir by speaking out about her former partner on Today.
The actress made her first broadcast appearance since Dane’s death in a pre-recorded conversation with Maria Shriver on the Tuesday, November 3, episode of Today. Dane’s memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, was written in the final year of his life before he died at the age of 53 in February as a result of ALS.
“Something definitely was awakened in him when he was diagnosed that I think he had maybe never felt before,” Gayheart said to Shriver. “He became a different person, in a way. He really valued his life, suddenly, and every minute of he was gonna spend his life.”
Dane and Gayheart wed in 2004 and welcomed their daughters, Billie and Georgia, in 2010 and 2011, respectively. In the book, Dane opens up about his struggles with substance abuse and depression, which in part led to his and Gayheart’s separation. (The exes never legally divorced, despite a filing.)
Dane received his ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) diagnosis in 2024. Per the Mayo Clinic, ALS is a “nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord” that leads to “muscle weakness and other symptoms that get worse over time.”
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Recalling her reaction to Dane’s diagnosis, Gayheart shared, “The first thing I thought about was just my daughters losing their father and how hard that was gonna be on them. And then, I just thought, ‘OK, what do we have to do?’”
Despite their split, Gayheart didn’t hesitate to become his caretaker. “It was very simple to me. We were together for so long. We created two beautiful daughters,” she explained. “We had been separated for, also, a very long time, over eight years. He had other girlfriends, and I 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 noted that Dane found an unexpected plus side to his diagnosis. “He was relieved of that mental anguish that he had his entire life, to not feel so insecure,” she said. “He almost was given a gift and a curse at the same time.”
Dane’s death earlier this year came as a surprise to his family, as his health took a turn for the worse during a routine hospital stay. “I thought Eric would still be here with us, right now,” Gayheart told Shriver. “We never, ever anticipated that we would lose him in February.”
Shriver went on to ask, “What is coming to the surface for you?” Gayheart paused for a second, choking up, before answering, “I think it’s that I can’t give my daughters their dad back, which it’s a great, tremendous loss for them.”
Dane’s book is dedicated to his daughters, whom he previously honored on Netflix‘s Famous Last Words interview series. “I think he really wants the girls to fight for themselves and advocate for their happiness and their joy and their mental health,” Gayheart gushed. “They have a lot of Eric in them. I think they got all the best parts.”
Today, Weekdays, 7 am/6c, NBC