The actor Eric Dane shared tender words about estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart in one of the final interviews he gave before dying last week of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis at age 53.
In addition to the moving message he wrote to his two daughters, the “Grey’s Anatomy” alum said he had a special place in his heart for Gayheart, whom he had been separated from since 2018.
“Well, we still love each other deeply,” he told interviewer Brad Falchuk last November on “Famous Last Words,” the Netflix documentary series of interviews with notable cultural figures granted on the condition that they will be aired posthumously. The episode featuring his interview was released Friday, the day after his death.
Netflix via AP
Eric Dane, left, and Brad Falchuk in an episode of “Famous Last Words.” (Netflix via AP)
“I just think we don’t want to live with each other,” he continued with a chuckle. “But there’s a lot of love there. I will never, by the time anybody sees this, have fallen in love with another woman as deeply as I fell in love with Rebecca. She’s the mother of my children.”
He recalled meeting Gayheart for the first time and telling her friend, “I’m gonna marry that girl,” and being informed that Gayheart would never leave her fiancé, whom she’d been with since they were 15. Somehow, though, the pair’s “organic and fortuitous” meeting panned out.
They married in 2004. After 14 years of marriage and two daughters — Billie, now 15, and Georgia, 14 — Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018. But she rescinded the petition in March 2025, a few weeks before Dane announced his ALS diagnosis.
They remained close friends, and Gayheart committed herself to supporting him and their children through the course of his illness.
Dane, also known for the HBO series “Euphoria,” died last Thursday of ALS, the motor neuron illness also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, less than a year after being diagnosed. Tributes have poured in nonstop, and an online funding drive for his daughters had reached $314,000 by Sunday night.
Gayheart spoke out briefly on Sunday, saying in her Instagram stories that she was overwhelmed and grateful.
“I am so blown away by the outpouring of love and support from our community,” she wrote. “There aren’t words to express our gratitude. You are truly holding us up during this difficult time.”
With News Wire Services
