Eric Dane Is Fighting ALS Diagnosis ‘As Much As I Can’

June 16, 2025
3:52 pm

Eric Dane has lost complete control over his right arm due to ALS, the actor revealed in a June 16 Good Morning America interview with Diane Sawyer. “My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” he said. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.” During the interview, Dane teared up thinking about his wife, Rebecca Gayheart. “We have managed to become better friends, better parents,” he said. “She is probably my biggest champion, my most stalwart supporter. And I lean on her.” The two have two daughters, 15 and 13, and Dane says he’s “angry” at the diagnosis because of his daughters, especially because his father committed suicide when Dane was 7. “I’m angry because my father was taken from me when I was young,” Dane said. “Now there’s a very good chance I’m going to be taken from my girls when they’re very young.”

Dane was diagnosed with ALS in April after nine months of testing. It began when he felt a tiredness in his left hand in 2024. “I went and saw a hand specialist, who sent me to another hand specialist,” he told GMA. “I went and saw a neurologist, and the neurologist sent me to another neurologist and said, ‘This is way above my pay grade.’” He first revealed his ALS diagnosis that April, to People. “I feel fortunate that I am able to continue working and am looking forward to returning to the set of Euphoria next week,” he said at the time. “I kindly ask that you give my family and I privacy during this time.” Dane will be on Euphoria season three and his upcoming TV show Countdown, which premieres on Amazon Prime on June 25.

Dane acknowledges that, while he can work at the moment despite “limitations,” he likely soon won’t have control over his legs. He recounted snorkeling with his daughter and realizing he no longer had the energy to get back to the boat. “I thought, Oh God, I’m not safe in the water anymore,” Dane, who used to be a competitive swimmer, said. His daughter had to “drag me back to the boat.” He remembers “breaking down in tears. I made sure she got back to the water with her friend and continued on with the snorkeling. I was just heart broken.” ALS is still considered incurable, but Dane says he’ll continue to fight. “In my heart, I don’t feel like this is the end for me,” he told Sawyer. “I’m fighting as much as I can. There’s so much about it that’s out of my control.”

The Euphoria star has lost control of his right arm.