Back in April, Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria star Eric Dane revealed that he had been diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This is also known as motor neurone disease, and impacts nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, causing patients to gradually lose the ability to walk, speak, eat, and breathe independently — although their mental state remains unchanged.
Speaking to Diane Sawyer for Good Morning America in June, 53-year-old Eric said that his symptoms began about a year and a half earlier, when he noticed weakness in his right hand. He added at the time: “My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working… I feel like maybe a couple more months, and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”
Eric, who used to be a competitive swimmer and water polo star, also recalled a recent experience during a boat trip with his youngest daughter. The star shares 15-year-old Billie Beatrice and 13-year-old Georgia Geraldine with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart. He told Diane: “When I jumped in the ocean that day and realized I couldn’t swim [or] generate enough power to get myself back to the boat, I thought: ‘Oh, God.’ And then I realized in that moment: I’m not safe in the water anymore.”
Eric then shared his anger at the thought of his daughters potentially losing him at a “very young age,” and said that he wants to prioritize spending as much time as possible with his family. Discussing Rebecca, who he married in 2004, specifically, Eric said: “I talk to her every day. 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.”
And with that in mind, people were confused when Eric stepped out with filmmaker Janell Shirtcliff just a few days after the interview. Eric and Janell posed hand-in-hand on the red carpet at the premiere of his show Countdown, and a source told Entertainment Tonight that same day that the couple had been “in an on-and-off relationship” for more than three years.
So, here’s the context: After marrying in 2004 and welcoming two children together, Rebecca filed for divorce from Eric in 2018, but the divorce proceedings never moved forward. Then, in March of this year — just one month before Eric publicly shared his ALS diagnosis — Rebecca requested to dismiss her divorce filing. During an interview with E! shortly afterwards, Rebecca confirmed that she and Eric are still married and “the best of friends.”
“We are really close. We are great coparents. 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,” she explained at the time. “I think it’s important to not look at a relationship that ends as a failure. It’s just a season. 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.”
And now, Rebecca has opened up some more about her and Eric’s “super complicated” relationship as she shared why she decided to call off the divorce — and how it all boils down to prioritizing their daughters. During an appearance on the Broad Ideas podcast, Rebecca said: “I am definitely trying to show [my daughters] that we show up for people no matter what. And he is our family, he is your father. 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. I mean, it’s super complicated for me.”
“We’ve been separated for eight years,” Rebecca then confirmed. “The kids live with me 100 per cent of the time. There’s been lots of just stuff, other stuff, but I try to stay optimistic about it all. I’m trying to learn from it and [be a] role model for them [for] how to go through something like this, which is really hard.”
“I don’t know if I’m doing it well or if I’m doing it in the wrong way or the right way,” she admitted. “I’m just showing up. I’m showing up, and I’m trying to be there for them. I guess time will tell… They’re good girls who are just going through a lot.”
“It’s all very humbling,” Rebecca added. “And I think 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, and that this is life. Life, sadly, is just moments, good and bad, strung together. There’s gonna be good ones, there’s gonna be bad ones, there’s gonna be exciting ones, it’s gonna be really sad.”
Rebecca concluded: “[My focus is giving them] the opportunity to spend time with [their father] so that they don’t ever look back and go: ‘I wish I would have spent some time with my dad.’”
Sounds pretty admirable to me — let me know your thoughts on Rebecca’s comments down below!
