{"id":905979,"date":"2026-11-04T20:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T20:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/905979\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T20:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T20:26:09","slug":"rebecca-gayheart-details-first-als-symptom-she-noticed-before-eric-danes-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/905979\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Gayheart details first ALS symptom she noticed before Eric Dane’s diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Gayheart was concerned about her estranged husband Eric Dane\u2019s headaches ahead of his ALS diagnosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The actress told Drew Barrymore on \u201cPersonal Spaces\u201d<\/a> Wednesday that this symptom was the first she noticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never once had a headache for all the years we were married or dated,\u201d the former model, 55, explained, noting that he started \u201ccomplaining about\u201d some \u201ca few months\u201d before his hand weakness.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Gayheart (pictured above on the left in 2004) recalled the early ALS symptoms she noticed before Eric Dane\u2019s diagnosis. WireImage for Maxim<\/p>\n

The actress told Drew Barrymore on \u201cPersonal Spaces\u201d Wednesday that her estranged husband started getting headaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Eric, you never get headaches. You\u2019ve never taken an Advil. What are you talking about a headache? You don\u2019t have a headache,’\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

At the time, Dane simply thought he had \u201cslept on [his] neck funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gayheart noted, \u201cThat continued. That was apart of it. So there were definitely signs, but nothing was so major that you would really stop and pay attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted the actor \u201cnever\u201d got headaches prior.<\/p>\n

She recalled Dane speculating he had just \u201cslept on his neck funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dane was diagnosed with ALS in 2024, and he lost his battle to the disease<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d alum wrote in his posthumous memoir, \u201cMy Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments,\u201d<\/a> that his first symptom<\/a> was struggling to use chopsticks while enjoing a sushi dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly I can\u2019t work the chopsticks with my right hand,\u201d he remembered in the book, out Tuesday. \u201cMy hand tingles, and then my fingers feel numb.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actor initially believed he was \u201ctexting too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat continued,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThat was apart of it. So there were definitely signs, but nothing was so major that you would really stop and pay attention to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dane (pictured above in June 2025) got diagnosed in 2024 and went public with the news the following year. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

However, three weeks later, Dane\u2019s weakness became \u201cworse\u201d until he couldn\u2019t \u201cgrip the chopsticks at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201cEuphoria\u201d alum subsequently spent months being \u201cshuttled from doctor to doctor and under[going] a battery of tests,\u201d he told readers.<\/p>\n

He received a misdiagnosis<\/a> of multifocal motor neuropathy, \u201ca rare autoimmune disorder causing extreme muscle weakness\u201d with \u201c90 percent effective\u201d treatment.<\/p>\n

Dane\u2019s medical team got \u201cscared\u201d when he did not respond to the treatment.<\/p>\n

Dane (pictured above in November 2025) died in February at 53. Roger \/ PGP \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

The \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d alum (pictured above in September 2025) also experienced hand weakness before his diagnosis. The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nine months later \u2014 after a lumbar puncture, spinal fluid extraction and brain scans \u2014 he received his diagnosis.<\/p>\n

The late \u201cLast Ship\u201d star went public with the news in April 2025, the same month he and Gayheart filed to dismiss their divorce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gayheart explained Tuesday that while they were not together romantically<\/a>, they did keep their family \u201cintact\u201d<\/a> for daughters Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rebecca Gayheart was concerned about her estranged husband Eric Dane\u2019s headaches ahead of his ALS diagnosis. The actress…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":905980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[1508,12343,236,3172,91,112780,88,112897,2294,112899,92],"class_list":["post-905979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-actors","tag-als","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-interviews","tag-celebrity-news","tag-drew-barrymore-show","tag-entertainment","tag-eric-dane","tag-podcasts","tag-rebecca-gayheart","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=905979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/905979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/905980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=905979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=905979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=905979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}