Eric Dane now has ’24/7 nurses’ amid ALS diagnosis as estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart shares update

WASHINGTON — Rebecca Gayheart went to battle against an insurance company to make sure her estranged husband, Eric Dane, is getting the care he needs following his ALS diagnosis. 

In a personal essay for The Cut published Dec. 29, Gayheart opened up about her and Dane’s “very complicated relationship” and revealed that the former “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Euphoria” star now has “24/7 nurses.” 

But getting the around-the-clock care was its own battle. 

“With the nurses, the woman from his insurance said to me, ‘You can keep applying, and I’ll keep denying,'” Gayheart recalled. “I made it my mission. I was ‘locked in,’ as the kids would say. I crashed out, and then I locked it in. And we got it approved after two appeals.”

Gayheart and Dane have been separated for eight years and have two teenage daughters. The couple filed for divorce in 2018, but Gayheart dismissed the divorce filing in March 2025 just under a month before Dane went public with his ALS diagnosis. 

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurological disorder that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. There is no cure. 

“We haven’t lived in the same home for eight years; he’s dated other people, I’ve dated someone. It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love,” Gayheart described in her essay. “Eric knows that I am always going to want the best for him. That I’m going to do my best to do right by him. And I know he would do the same for me. So whatever I can do or however I can show up to make this journey better for him or easier for him, I want to do that. And I want to model that for my girls: That’s what you do. That’s the right thing to do.”

The 54-year-old actress shared that Dane’s weekly care is divided into 21 shifts and when some shifts can’t be covered, she’ll cover them. 

“There was a 12-hour shift recently that I could not cover. I could only do four hours because of all the stuff that the kids are doing. So I had to call on two of Eric’s friends, one of them who had never really taken care of him in that way. I thought, I can’t believe I had to ask someone to do this. And of course when I asked for help, they said, ‘Yeah, anything, what do you need? What’s going on?’ And they both showed up and did a wonderful job.”

And while there are a lot of other people who used to be more present in her life that have seemingly disappeared, Gayheart said she’s not taking it personally. 

“Most people are not great in this situation because it’s so heavy. It’s not easy for people. So I don’t hold any grudges toward who hasn’t shown up,” she wrote.