Eric Dane ‘wanted to die’: Inside Grey’s Anatomy star’s devastating last days… his unusual arrangement with wife’s boyfriend… and parting bedside words

When actor Eric Dane and his model wife Rebecca Gayheart married in 2004, the couple promised, as most do, to cherish each other even in sickness.

That promise never rang more true than when Grey’s Anatomy star Dane, who died on Thursday aged 53, was diagnosed with a fatal neurodegenerative disease in late 2023.

For, though he and Gayheart had been separated since 2017, she returned to her estranged husband’s bedside, accompanying him to doctor’s appointments and carrying the emotional load for their two teenage daughters.

Even more touching, Gayheart’s new businessman boyfriend, Peter Morton, was happy to oblige.

Dane wouldn’t share the news of his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) diagnosis until April last year. The month prior, Gayheart had withdrawn her 2018 divorce filing.

The move, according to multiple insiders, was a testament to the close ‘bond’ that Dane and Gayheart had maintained.

‘Rebecca has been by Eric’s side through his entire health battle,’ one source told the Daily Mail.

‘She is a kind woman and has been nothing but loving to him during his darkest hours. She did it not just for the kids, but because she and Eric have a long bond. There was a lot of love there.’

The heartthrob actor – dubbed ‘McSteamy’ for his role as Mark Sloan on hospital serial Grey’s Anatomy – began experiencing physical deterioration one year before his diagnosis. Chiseled, young, handsome – there was no inkling that an early death was on the cards.

So much so, a second insider suggested, that both Dane and Gayheart were initially in denial about the gravity of his condition.

‘When he started getting symptoms, they both made excuses to each other about them. The last thing either of them thought was that he was suffering from anything fatal,’ the insider said. 

‘When they finally got the terrifying news, they were in shock for days. They decided not to share it with anyone at first, hoping beyond hope that somehow the experts had got it wrong.’

After all, there is no cure for ALS, and the loss of motor control and eventual paralysis is grimly inevitable.

It is understood that Gayheart then made it her priority to accompany Dane on most of his doctor visits, an undertaking that left her ‘shattered’.

‘Watching him deteriorate so rapidly took its toll on Rebecca big time,’ the second insider said. ‘She couldn’t believe the strong man she’d loved, the father of their two beautiful daughters, had no way out.

‘Though they had been separated for years, Rebecca called off their divorce as soon as Eric was diagnosed with ALS. There was no way she could finally pull the plug on the marriage.

‘Even though the divorce proceedings had been pending for ages, she knew he needed her support at this horrendous time.’

And that’s despite the fact Gayheart, 54, had all but moved on with 78-year-old Morton, co-founder of the Hard Rock Café franchise and heir to the Morton Steakhouse empire. He is estimated to be worth $800 million.

In fact, our sources say, Gayheart and Morton were discussing marriage, likely looking to get engaged once the divorce from Dane had been finalized.

Those conversations, it seems, were put on ice – though Morton has remained close at hand.

‘Rebecca is very happy with Peter. They are very much in love,’ our first insider said. ‘There was talk that Rebecca and Peter were going to get married, but I don’t know where that stands now. He is very in love with her because she is so down-to-earth and caring.’

Much like any mother, Gayheart’s main priority has been the well-being of her two children, as they bore witness to their father’s deteriorating health.

Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14, have been living with their mother ‘100 percent of the time’ for the last seven years, Gayheart previously revealed.

As for Dane, it was reported in the days before his death that he had taken up residence at a Los Angeles home owned by none other than actor Johnny Depp, where he was living ‘rent free’ to ease some of his financial concerns in the final months of his life.

It would come as no surprise that treatment for a disease as aggressive as ALS will have been costly. Consigned to a wheelchair and eventually bedbound, Dane will have needed round-the-clock care.

Despite seven seasons on Grey’s Anatomy and other credits including a role in HBO’s hit teen drama Euphoria, it seems he didn’t die a rich man – and not least because ALS rendered him unable to work in the last years of his life.

‘He spent a fortune on getting the best doctors, which insurance doesn’t always cover, and he had to hire full-time care,’ the first insider told the Daily Mail.

‘I don’t know if I would say Eric was broke when he died, but I don’t think there was a lot of money in his bank account.’

Thank goodness then, for Depp – who is said to have been close to Dane for years, having met him through mutual friends in Hollywood.

Morton also played a role, supporting Gayheart and Dane’s children.

‘Peter is generous. If Rebecca has ever needed anything, he has been there,’ the insider said.

In June last year, in a Good Morning America interview with Diane Sawyer, Dane admitted he wasn’t ready to die.

‘I’m angry because, you know, my father was taken from me when I was young… And now, there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls while they’re very young,’ he said.

It was surely weighing on him that a life in the fast lane may be catching up to him.

In 2012, Dane was unceremoniously fired from Grey’s Anatomy amid an ongoing struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

It had long been a problem. He had been sober for ‘three or four years’ before joining the show but, as he would later admit, he relapsed during a writers’ strike in 2007.

‘I am not good with a lot of time on my hands,’ he explained.

In the summer of 2011, Dane checked into a rehab facility, suffering an addiction to prescription painkillers. And it was around this time that the serious depression started, too.

‘That was a scary thing, when you wake up and you’re like: “I don’t want to get out of bed,”‘ he recalled.

His daughter Billie was only 16 months old at the time – and Gayheart was pregnant with Georgia, who would be born that December.

But for all those fears of an early death, it is understood that, as the end drew near, Dane was able to say goodbye to his family, and found comfort in that.

‘He wasn’t getting better and he was eventually able to meet his fate head on. As devastating as this is for his loved ones, they are all very much relieved that he is no longer in pain,’ a third insider said.

‘Eric knew it was his time to go, and he wanted to go. As sad as it all has become, especially for his kids, he was able to tell everyone, including them, how much he loved them all.’