Less than one year after her estranged husband, Eric Dane, went public with his ALS diagnosis, Rebecca Gayheart spoke to New York Magazine’s The Cut about caring for her ex despite their “complicated relationship.”

In the essay published Monday, the actress said she wept with Dane, from whom she had lived apart for years, when they learned of his diagnosis. “I didn’t know all the details like I do now, but I knew enough about ALS to know that there wasn’t a cure,” Gayheart said of the progressive neurodegenerative disease.

The former couple has two daughters — Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14. Though Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018 after separating from Dane a year earlier, she dismissed the filing in March 2025, less than one month before Dane went public with his ALS diagnosis.

“We had a really lovely marriage for a long time — we were married for 15 years — we created two beautiful girls,” she said of her relationship with Dane, whom she said she still cares “deeply” about. “But also, lots of shit went crazy in our relationship, and it wasn’t good. We separated, but we never got a divorce; we were about to and then we didn’t.”

She noted that both she and Dane have seen other people in the years since. “It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people,” she continued. “Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love. 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.”

Gayheart said that while Dane has 24/7 nurse care, she often has to fill in the gaps, as well as handle all billing and insurance issues. She also talked about the experience of having more eyes on her now that Dane’s diagnosis is public, particularly with paparazzi taking photos.

“We went to have sushi one night, and it was the first time I had to unload the wheelchair and open it and get Eric into it on my own. And oh my God, I was sweating bullets and there were people watching and taking pictures and I was so upset because I was really struggling,” she said. “I had a flashback from when I was a new mom and I didn’t know how to open the car seat — panicking and the baby’s crying and I’m trying to do this. It was that kind of a feeling, just awful. But I’ve now mastered that thing. And we are really much more careful about where we go out and when we go.”

Dane, who is publishing a memoir about living with ALS, has previously spoken about his relationship with Gayheart. In a June interview with Diane Sawyer on Good Morning America, he said of his spouse: “I talk to her every day. We have managed to become better friends and better parents, and she is my — probably my biggest champion. My most stalwart supporter, and I lean on her.”