Rebecca Gayheart is shining a light on her new reality less than nine months after husband Eric Dane’s death.
“I thought Eric would still be here with us right now. We never, ever anticipated that we would lose him in February,” Gayheart, 55, said on the Tuesday, November 3, episode of the Today show during a sit-down interview with journalist Maria Shriver.
Gayheart recalled the moment she learned Dane was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease, back in 2024. “The first thing I thought about was just my daughters losing their father and how hard that was going to be on them,” she said, “and then I just thought, ‘OK, what do we have to do?'”
She also reflected on her decision to stand by the actor’s side throughout his illness despite the fact that they were no longer together. (The duo, who shared daughters Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14, tied the knot in 2004 before Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018. Their split was never finalized.)
“I mean, it was very simple to me,” Gayheart explained. “We were together for so long, we created two beautiful daughters. We had been separated for also a very long time, over eight years. He had other girlfriends and I had 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.”
Dane went public with his diagnosis in spring 2025, less than one year before he died at age 53 in February. Gayheart’s interview coincided with the release of his posthumous memoir, My Book of Days, which details his life and career like never before.
“Something definitely was awakened in him when he was diagnosed that I think he really never felt before,” Gayheart said on Tuesday. “He became a different person, in a way. He really valued his life suddenly and every minute of how he was going to spend his life.”
According to the actress, Dane’s health battle was “a gift and a curse at the same time,” because “he was relieved of that mental anguish that he had his entire life.”
Reflecting on how her family will move forward, Gayheart began to tear up. “I can’t give my daughters their dad back. It’s a great, tremendous loss for them,” she noted. “I think he really wants the girls to fight for themselves and advocate for their happiness and their joy and their mental health. They have a lot of Eric in them. I think they got all the best parts.”
In his book, the Grey’s Anatomy alum shared a glimpse into the unbreakable bond he shared with Gayheart.
“We were married for 14 years, grew apart, filed for divorce, but never got around to signing the papers,” Dane wrote. “We’ve since stayed close, coparenting, going on vacations as a family, spending time together, and now we talk every day.”
The actor gave his ex a final shout-out in the acknowledgements, writing, “I can’t thank you enough.”
Back in March, Shriver, 70, expressed how “honored” she was that Dane chose her imprint, The Open Field, to publish his memoir. She confirmed he was working on it “right up to the end” of his life.
“He told me he wanted his family to know how much he loved them,” she wrote via Instagram at the time, “and he wanted to leave them a story they could be proud of.”
My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments is available now.
