Rebecca Gayheart on Husband Eric Dane's Death: 'Thought He Had More Time'

Rebecca Gayheart, widow of actor Eric Dane, has shared that she believed her husband had more time before his death from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Dane passed away on February 19 at the age of 53.

In an interview with Maria Shriver on the Today Show, Gayheart, 55, expressed her surprise at the timing of Dane's death. "He had gone to the hospital so many times before, and they would patch him up, so to speak, and he would come home," she recalled. "And he’d be OK. And we’d go back to the normal routine."

This pattern led Gayheart and their two daughters, Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14, to not anticipate his death. "I had no idea that that was it, that that week was going to be our last week," she said. "And nor did my daughters. It really took a few days for us to understand the gravity of what that last trip to the hospital meant."

Gayheart noted that by the third day of his final hospitalization, "everything shifted," including the tone of the doctors' communications. Dane, though not fully verbal, was aware of the change and communicated with his family. "The kids could [understand him] most of the time, his closest friends," she added.

The interview coincided with the release of Dane's posthumous memoir, "My Book Of Days: A Memoir of Moments." The book details his struggle with addiction, his relationship with Gayheart, the initial signs of his illness, and his misdiagnosis before receiving the ALS diagnosis.

In the memoir's closing pages, Dane addressed his daughters directly, reflecting on his journey as a father and expressing sadness that he would not be able to walk them down the aisle. He offered them his final words of advice, urging them to "fight until their last breath" with "honesty, integrity, and grace."

Dane, known for his role as Dr. Mark Sloan, or 'McSteamy,' on Grey's Anatomy, was diagnosed with ALS about a year before his death. Although he and Gayheart divorced in 2017, they remained amicable co-parents and had called off their divorce proceedings shortly before his ALS announcement.

Dane also outlined his wishes for his funeral in the memoir, including a preference for a large venue, a specific music playlist spanning his tastes from the '80s and '90s, and a curated selection of food and short, meaningful speeches. He also suggested a Hawaiian prayer, "Ho’oponopono," meaning "to make right."