Eric Dane is relying on his estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart’s support as he battles ALS.
During her appearance on Monday’s episode of the “Broad Ideas” podcast, Gayheart, 54, opened up about how she and her daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, are navigating the “Grey’s Anatomy” alum’s serious health battle.
“I’m definitely trying to show them that we show up for people no matter what,” Gayheart said about her kids.
“He is our family. He is your father,” she continued. “We show up, and we try to do it with some dignity and some grace and just get through it and that we will get through it the best we can.”
The former teen model — who filed for divorce from Dane in 2018, but then filed to dismiss their divorce in March of this year — revealed that she has a “super complicated” dynamic with her husband right now.
“We’ve been separated for eight years. The kids live with me 100 percent of the time,” she revealed. “There’s been lots of just stuff, other stuff.”
“I try to stay optimistic, though, about it all,” Gayheart went on. “I’m trying to learn from it and role model for how to go through something like this, which is really hard.”
The mother of two added, “I don’t know if I’m doing it well or if I’m doing it in the wrong way or the right way. I’m just showing up. I’m showing up, and I’m trying to be there for them. I guess time will tell.”
Gayheart also said that her daughters are “good girls who are just going through a lot.”
Dane, who married Gayheart in 2004, announced he was diagnosed with ALS in April.
ALS is a rare degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord along with causing progressive loss of muscle control. The disease has long been nicknamed Lou Gehrig’s disease after the iconic baseball player who had the condition in the 1930s.
In June, Dane, who now uses a wheelchair, gushed over his wife’s support during an emotional interview on “Good Morning America.”
“I talk to her every day,” the “Euphoria” star said. “We have managed to become better friends and better parents, and she is probably my biggest champion. My most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her.”
On the “Broad Ideas” podcast, Gayheart shared that she’s “definitely experiencing growth as a human being” amidst Dane’s health battle.
“It’s all very humbling,” she said. “One piece of this that I hope I’m passing to my kids is the idea that you can show up for someone and be there for them, but you also have to show up for yourself. This is life. Life sadly is just moments of good and bad strung together.”
“You never know what you’re going to get and we should treat today as a really special day,” Gayheart continued. “This isn’t a dress rehearsal. This is it. Whatever we’re doing today, this is our life.”
