Rebecca Gayheart is reflecting on her “complicated” relationship with Eric Dane after his death earlier this year.
“I feel solo in a way that is hard,” Gayheart, 55, said on the Tuesday, November 3, episode of the Today show during a sit-down interview with Maria Shriver, who asked whether Gayheart would consider herself a widow. “You know, I don’t have that person to celebrate my daughter getting her driver’s license. I miss Eric. I knew Eric deeply. We were married [for] almost 15 years.”
She continued, “And yes, we have a complex, complicated relationship that doesn’t fit into anyone’s box. But we always landed in a place of agreement that we were a family and that we wanted our kids to have two parents that didn’t hate each other.”
Dane went public with his ALS battle in 2025. Less than one year later, Dane died in February at age 53. In the final year of his life, Dane wrote his memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments, chronicling his health and career — and offering insight into his relationship with Gayheart.
Dane and Gayheart tied the knot in 2004 before welcoming daughters Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14. She filed for divorce in 2018, but the paperwork was never finalized. Gayheart stood by Dane’s side before his death for the sake of their family.
“[Our daughters] are so grateful because [the book] answered a lot of questions they had,” Gayheart said on Tuesday. “They have his story, his words, the way he wants it to be told. … It’s such a gift for my daughters.”
Gayheart also admitted that she thought Dane would keep his diagnosis private and “not share it with the world,” but she marveled at how the Grey’s Anatomy actor “did the exact opposite.”
“I think that so many people are aware of ALS now. And when you’re diagnosed with it, there is no hope,” she said. “We need research. We need hope. And I think Eric really helped bring some visibility to this disease.”
She continued, “When I started focusing more on what he was doing — which was being present, showing up, just being present and simplifying things — I think that’s when things felt better for everyone. For my girls, for Eric, for myself. Acceptance was better.”
In his posthumous memoir, Dane remembered the moment he called Gayheart after receiving his diagnosis.
“I say to Rebecca on the phone, ‘It’s what we feared,'” he wrote. “I don’t remember a single word I said after that. I remember only feeling a violent impact, like getting the wind knocked out of me, and Rebecca wailing on the other end of the phone, and then I really lose it … I hear her words pouring out amid her tears, ‘I’m here, we’ll fight this together, I’m not going anywhere.'”
He continued, “She will go beyond keeping her word. Rebecca will remain by my side, unwavering, my rock, my champion.”
My Book of Days is available now.
