Rebecca Gayheart is looking back at a difficult conversation with her and Eric Dane’s daughters about his ALS diagnosis.
“When the call came in … one of my daughters was in the bathroom, and I said, ‘Hold on, honey, I have to take a phone call. I’m going to go in my closet,’” Gayheart, 55, told Drew Barrymore on the Wednesday, November 4, episode of her “Personal Space” podcast.
Gayheart recalled having a “really difficult” phone call, which her daughter overheard.
“When I came out of the closet, she goes, ‘What’s going on?’ And I was like, ‘Honey, I’m going to talk to you about it later,’” she said.
Gayheart, Dane and their daughters — Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14 — then met with their family therapist to talk about the Euphoria actor’s health.
“We told them what ALS was,” she recalled. “It was really hard to tell them because they had so many questions, and they’d never heard of ALS before. When we said this is a disease that had no cure, they’d be like, ‘But dad’s going to be fine, right?’”
She added, “It’s not like having a conversation with an adult where you can grasp it. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it.”
Dane was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease that attacks the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, in 2024. He publicly shared his diagnosis in April 2025.
Less than one year later, Dane’s family confirmed his death in a statement to Us in February. He was 53.
“With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS,” the statement read. “He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world.”
The statement continued, “Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight. He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he’s received. The family has asked for privacy as they navigate this impossible time.”
In his posthumous memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, Dane shared the five words he told his daughters every day amid his ALS battle.
“6:15 a.m. ‘Good morning, I love you.’ I say those five words aloud, today, and every day, dictating a text to Georgia, my 13-year-old daughter,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum wrote. “I speak slowly into my phone, which Cynthia, my nurse, holds up to my mouth.”
My Book of Days is available now.
