Eric Dane sadly passed away on February 19, 2026, at the age of 53.
The Grey’s Anatomy star’s official cause of death has finally been revealed to be due to respiratory failure, per his death certificate which People obtained.
His long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, known as ALS was an additional underlying cause of his tragic passing.
The Euphoria actor struggled with ALS since he was diagnosed in 2024 and the following year, he publicly shared that he had ALS.
Eric’s final interview
Prior to his passing, the actor left behind a heartbreaking final interview with his “last words” for his wife of 19 years, Rebecca Gayheart and daughters Billie, 15 and Georgia, 14.
Eric shot the Netflix documentary titled Famous Last Words under the condition that it would only be released after his passing, and it came out on February 20.
© FilmMagicIn the moving interview he was asked to “describe the essence” of his long-time relationship with his wife.
He revealed: “Well, we still love each other deeply. I just think we don’t wanna live with each other. But there’s a lot of love there. I’ll never…I will have never, by the time anybody sees this, have fallen in love with another woman, as deeply as I feel in love with Rebecca. She’s the mother of my children and the whole way that thing came about it was so organic and fortuitous.”
During the vulnerable interview, Eric shared that he had a gut feeling that Rebecca was the one. He recalled: “I met Rebecca and I turned to her friend and I said: ‘I’m gonna marry that girl.'”
© WireImageRebecca breaks silence after Eric’s death
Rebecca transparently broke her silence on his death two days after his passing.
After receiving endless support from fans, she wrote online: “I am so blown away by the outpouring of love and support from our community. There aren’t words to express our gratitude. You are truly holding us up during this difficult time.”
The 90210 actress previously provided insight into what it was like to care for Eric through his ALS battles.
In November, she shared on the Broad Ideas with Rachel Bilson and Olivia Allen podcast: “I am trying to show [our kids] that we show up for people no matter what. He is our family. He is your father. We show up, and we try to do it with some dignity and some grace and just get through it. We will get through it the best we can.”
© Getty ImagesEric gets candid about his ALS struggles
During the sit-down Netflix documentary, Eric expressed what ALS taught him and said: “It made me a little bit softer, a little bit more open… All I’m left with is me. It’s kind of a [expletive] way of realizing that you were enough the whole time, when everything gets taken away and all you have left is this person.”
Before he parted from the interview he told his daughters: “Billie and Georgia, you are my heart. You are my everything. Good night. I love you. Those are my last words.”
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