Were Eric Dane & Rebecca Gayheart Still Married When He Died? Inside Their Relationship
Eric Dane died on February 19, just 10 months after announcing that he’d been diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in April 2025. Amid Dane’s health decline, he had the support of his family, who were by his side in his final days.
That includes Rebecca Gayheart, whom he married in 2004 after less than a year of dating. But while Gayheart was referred to as Dane’s “devoted wife” in a statement after his death, their relationship was complicated in recent years.
Scroll down for everything we know about Dane and Gayheart’s marriage, family, and more.
Were Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart still married when he died?
At the time of Dane’s death, he and Gayheart were still married, but they were not together romantically. Gayheart filed for divorce from the Grey’s Anatomy star in 2018, but the split was never finalized, and she dismissed the petition in 2025, shortly before he went public with news of his ALS diagnosis.
“I call Rebecca. I talk to her every day,” Dane said on Good Morning America in June 2025. “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.”
Gayheart also told E! earlier that year that she considered her relationship with Dane to be a “huge success” because of the length of time they were together and the kids that came from their marriage. She described their relationship as the “best of friends” and said they were “really close” after the romantic separation.
More recently, Gayheart wrote an essay for The Cut in December 2025 and reiterated, “Eric and I are not a couple,” but added, “We’re a family.” As she explained in the piece, “It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love.”
Why did Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart split?
Gayheart said to The Cut, “Lots of s**t went crazy in our relationship, and it wasn’t good.” She didn’t specify exactly what “lots of s**t” entailed, and cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split in her divorce filing.
Of her decision to dismiss the divorce petition, Gayheart said on the Broad Ideas podcast that she made the choice to show her daughters the importance of family. “We tell them, ‘We show up for people no matter what. He is our family. He is your father,'” she explained. “We show up and we try to do it with some dignity and some grace and just get through it the best we can.”
Gayheart admitted that the situation was “super complicated,” but has made it clear that she only ever wanted to do what was best for Dane and their children.
Were Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart living together?
No, Dane and Gayheart were not living together. In fact, she explained in The Cut piece that they “haven’t lived in the same home” since 2017. The pair’s daughters lived with Gayheart, but she noted that her estranged husband’s home was “about a 12-minute drive away.”
“We have a lot of meals together,” Gayheart shared. “We do a lot of drop-by visits — well, I don’t just drop by. I always call and say, ‘I’m coming up the hill’ or ‘I’m dropping Georgia off.’”
How many children did Eric Dane have?
Dane and Gayheart shared two children. Their first daughter, Billie, was born in 2010, followed by another little girl, Georgia, in December 2011.
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“They are good girls who are just going through a lot,” Gayheart said on Broad Ideas. “I just want to make sure I provide them with the opportunity to spend time with him, so they don’t ever look back [and wish they did.] I really want to make sure to help facilitate that stuff for them, which is what I’m doing.”
In his June 2025 GMA interview, Dane recalled the moment he realized how severe his medical condition was during a snorkeling trip with his daughters.
“When I jumped into the ocean that day and realized I couldn’t swim, 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,” he revealed. Dane said one of his teenage daughters had to help him back to the boat, adding, “I was breaking down in tears, so I made sure she got back in the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkeling with the guide, but I was just heartbroken.”
