Watch: Rebecca Gayheart Talks Summer Plans With Eric Dane
Eric Dane is facing a new health battle.
The Grey’s Anatomy alum shared that he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The condition is a rare degenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spine and causes progressive paralysis of the muscles, causing patients to slowly lose the ability to speak, eat, walk and breathe independently, according to Mayo Clinic.
“I have been diagnosed with ALS,” Dane told People in an interview published April 10. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”
But the 52-year-old—who shares kids Billie Beatrice, 15, and Georgia Geraldine, 13, with wife Rebecca Gayheart—insisted that the diagnosis wouldn’t interfere with his upcoming projects, which includes returning as character Nate Jacobs’ dad Cal Jacobs in the forthcoming third season of HBO Max’s Euphoria.
“I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to the set of Euphoria next week,” Dane continued. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.”
Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
And Gayheart has echoed her husband’s sentiment about having his family’s support. In fact, one month after she filed to dismiss her 2018 divorce petition from Dane following 14 years of marriage, the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum shared that their relationship is currently in a great place.
“We are best of friends. We are really close. We are great coparents,” Gayheart told E! News April 9. “We really figured out the formula to staying a family and I think our kids are benefiting greatly from it and we are as well.”
Rob Latour/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
As for how the 53-year-old feels about their yearslong separation now that they’ve reconciled? Gayheart doesn’t see it as a total negative.
“It’s just a season,” she explained. “It wasn’t a failure. It was a huge success. We were married for—I mean, we are still married—but together for 15 years and we had two beautiful kids so I think that’s a successful relationship, and that’s how we look at it.”
For more on Dane and Gayheart’s love story, keep reading.
Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart have never revealed how they first connected, though Dane admitted it’s “probably one of the least interesting stories in the world.”
“It went basically like this: ‘You wanna go out?'” he recalled to Flaunt magazine in 2008. “‘Yeah, sure.’ Ten months later, we were married.”
Less than one year after they began dating, the couple exchanged vows in Las Vegas.
After Dane announced he was leaving the TNT drama The Last Ship due to his battle with depression, Gayheart took to Instagram to show her support for her husband.
“Way back when I met my Monday man crush,” Gayheart captioned a throwback photo of the couple.
Gayheart cited “irreconcilable differences” as the cause of the couple’s split and sought spousal support and joint legal and physical custody of their daughters Billie, 13, and Georgia, 11, when she filed for divorce.
“After 14 years together we have decided that ending our marriage is the best decision for our family,” the duo said in a joint statement to E! News at the time. “We will continue our friendship and work as a team to co-parent our two beautiful girls as they are the most important thing in the world to us.”
However, the divorce was never finalized, and Dane revealed that the pair were still friends and “great” co-parents when he told Entertainment Tonight in 2019, “We have two kids. It’s not complicated…it doesn’t have to be.”
Jason Merritt/Getty Images for GLAAD
One decade after the couple made headlines when a nude video with former Miss Teen USA Kari Ann Peniche was published online, Dane addressed the scandal in a rare interview.
“I often think about that answer I gave. And looking back now, was it a mistake? Absolutely not,” he told Glamour of previously describing the incident as a misstep. “Three consenting adults, one of them being my wife? I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
He added that his previous comments were “most likely referring to the drug use that was alluded to in the video.”
“And was that a mistake? Again, I don’t necessarily think I was breaking any laws and corrupting anybody,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said. “We were just three people taking a bath.”
“I didn’t regret it, I have no regrets nor do I make any apologies for my life experience,” he concluded. “It’s my life experience and I’m at peace with all of it.”
After the tape was published in 2009, the couple was forced to take action, and as a result, Dane and Gayheart filed a $1 million copyright infringement against Gawker Media and reportedly settled for upwards of six-figures.
The pair first sparked rumors of a reconciliation when they jetted off to Europe as a family of four. The Jawbreaker actress shared snaps from the trip showing Dane making a silly face at the camera with their girls.
“This is us,” Gayheart captioned the Instagram post. “Family vacay 2022.”
In a second pic from their European adventures, the foursome posed together with big smiles on the Parisian streets, as she wrote on the ‘gram, “A pit stop in Paris!”
The group then made their way across the coast to St. Tropez, with Gayheart documenting their journey on her Instagram Stories. “My people,” she captioned a snap of the fam with a friend.
While she filed for divorce in 2018, Dane and Gayheart kicked off the New Year as one big family.
The Euphoria actor and the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum were photographed walking hand-in-hand off a boat together during a vacation with their two daughters.
Instagram / Rebecca Gayheart
Rebecca filed to dismiss her divorce petition, seven years after submitting the papers.
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