Rebecca Gayheart was with husband Eric Dane every step of the way amid his battle with ALS, but she wasn’t prepared for his final trip to the hospital before his death.
“He had gone to the hospital so many times before, and they would patch him up, so to speak, and he would come home,” Gayheart, 55, told Maria Shriver during the Tuesday, November 3, episode of Today, referring to Dane’s death in February at the age of 53 following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Gayheart explained that when the Grey’s Anatomy alum was admitted to the hospital that time, she was unfazed because Dane had been in and out of hospitals since his 2024 diagnosis.
“He’d be OK. And we’d go back to the normal routine, which did change week by week,” Gayheart recalled of the pattern she experienced caring for Dane.
Gayheart, who shares daughters Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14, with her late spouse, noted that this time was different — but no one knew it.
“I said, ‘Listen, I’ll be back. I have a dinner. I’m going to this event.’ I had no idea that that was it, that that week was going to be our last week,” Gayheart shared. “And nor did my daughters. It really took a few days for us to understand the gravity of what that last trip to the hospital meant.”
After a couple of days in the hospital, the actress said their whole family, including Dane, realized this wasn’t like his other stays.
“I think it was like day three in the hospital where it shifted,” Gayheart said, revealing that his health had taken a rapid decline. “Everything shifted. Just the tone of when the doctors were talking to us, and some of the information we were given.”
The Euphoria star was “fully aware it was shifting,” according to Gayheart, who said Dane was “still communicating with us.”
Although Gayheart said Dane’s verbal skills were not great, she was able to “understand him most of the time” as did his daughters and closest friends.
Gayheart and Dane were married for 14 years before filing for divorce in 2018. Gayheart later had her divorce dismissed in 2025 following the Burlesque actor’s ALS diagnosis.
The Jawbreaker actress recommitted to Dane during his health battle, admitting she suffered from “decision fatigue” when Dane took a turn for the worse.
“It was figuring it out as we went,” Gayheart said. “But I remember the moment Eric decided to make some choices, and he did. … He was in control of the way he was going to leave.”
Even though the toughest of times Gayheart was by Dane’s bedside. She recalled how the family spent their final moments together, telling Shriver, 70, “The girls and I just camped out there with him, and we had our family sleepovers.”
Gayheart shared, “And we brought in those little candles that aren’t real candles. They have batteries. And we played his favorite music, and we tried to make it as nice as you can be in the hospital room.”
Even with all the quality time, Gayheart admitted she wasn’t prepared for how quickly Dane’s life ended.
“A lot of people will say, ‘Well, at least you knew, and you could have those last conversations,’” she said. “But we didn’t know, because there is no road map. No one can tell you what the journey looks like because it’s so different for every patient.”
Gayheart, who appeared on Today the same day Dane’s posthumous memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, was released, noted that ALS ended up being a blessing and a curse for her husband.
“He became a different person in a way,” she said. “He really valued his life suddenly, and every minute of how he was going to spend his life and what he was going to do with his days.”
Gayheart added, “He was becoming more alive mentally, but losing all of his physical abilities. And for the girls, that was really hard to watch as well. But overall, it’s a blur, because it was just so overwhelming.”
My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is available now.
