Asked recently about her ongoing marriage to Eric Dane, Rebecca Gayheart delivered a decidedly positive prognosis.
“We are best friends,” the Jawbreaker actress detailed to E! News’ Francesca Amiker at the April 9 screening of the miniseries The Carters: Hurts To Love You in Los Angeles. “We are really close. We are great co-parents.”
Placing daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, at the forefront, she continued, “We really figured out the formula to staying a family and I think our kids are benefiting greatly from it and we are as well.”
So while she did move to end her marriage to the Grey’s Anatomy alum back in 2018, “I think it’s important to not look at a relationship that ends as a failure,” noted the 53-year-old. “It’s just a season. It wasn’t a failure. It was a huge success. We were married for, I mean, we are still married, but together for 15 years and we had two beautiful kids so I think that’s a successful relationship, and that’s how we look at it.”
Which means, yes, regardless of whether they remain romantically involved—Gayheart filed documents March 6 to dismiss her divorce from the Euphoria actor, a move he also signed off on—she will serve as a key ally in his battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s disease.
“I have been diagnosed with ALS,” Dane recently revealed to People, noting he plans to continue working and will report to the Euphoria set next week as he reprises his role as Cal Jacobs for the HBO hit’s long-awaited third season. “I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”
And the story of his and Gayheart’s romance is certainly an epic one.
Shortly after crossing paths in 2003, the San Francisco native—then known for his two-season stint on Charmed—and the Kentucky-bred model, who parlayed her success as “The Noxema Girl” into several soap opera gigs and a recurring role on Beverly Hills, 90210, wed in Las Vegas.
And they largely kept what happened in Sin City to themselves.
“It’s probably one of the least interesting stories in the world,” Dane, 52, insisted to Flaunt magazine in 2008. “It went basically like this: ‘You wanna go out?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ Ten months later, we were married.”
Their union, however, was anything but dull, as evidenced by a steamy tape of the duo and former Miss Teen USA Kari Ann Peniche that was leaked in 2009. (The couple later filed a lawsuit, their rep Marty Singer insisting, “It is a private tape made for only my clients’ personal use, and nobody has the right to exploit it.”)
But mere weeks later, the pair had even bigger news to share, Gayheart showing off her growing baby bump during a walk in L.A.
Eldest daughter Billie made her debut in March 2010 (“Named after my father,” Dane confirmed during an appearance on Harry Connick Jr.‘s talk show, “whether it was a boy or a girl, the firstborn was gonna be a Billie”) and her younger sister joined the fam 21 months later.
Though the twosome had to navigate their way through tough times (he briefly checked into a treatment facility for help getting off the pain medication he was prescribed following a sports-related injury and later took a break from his TNT show The Last Ship as he battled depression), fans were stunned when they announced plans to divorce in early 2018.
“Holding onto my girls tight and loving them hard today,” Gayheart shared on Instagram that February. “So many broken hearts and shattered dreams.”
In the years since, though, they’ve created a new vision for their life together.
“There’s a new normal for me and my family, as you know,” she detailed to People in 2019. “And it’s taken us a little bit to get that down. Not going to lie, it hasn’t been easy. But I think what’s exciting is what’s ahead because there are so many different things that could happen now.”
Like, say, a family getaway to St. Tropez and Paris that saw the the foursome say bonjour to pizza dinners and days on the beach.
And then there was their trip to Mexico just months later that produced a photograph of the very friendly exes hand-in-hand.
As fans speculate about just how close the pair are, they’ve chosen not to stress too much over dissecting the situation.
“We are friends and we are doing our best to co-parent and maintain a family, even though we’re not married,” she explained to People, noting that they were separated, but still legally wed. “And I think we’re doing a pretty good job of it. Life is just good. There are so many exciting things happening.”
The proof is in the pictures. Keep reading to relive the couple’s sweet story.
2003
Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart have never revealed how they first connected, though Dane admitted it’s “probably one of the least interesting stories in the world.”
“It went basically like this: ‘You wanna go out?'” he recalled to Flaunt magazine in 2008. “‘Yeah, sure.’ Ten months later, we were married.”
October 2004
Less than one year after they began dating, the couple exchanged vows in Las Vegas.
May 2017
After Dane announced he was leaving the TNT drama The Last Ship due to his battle with depression, Gayheart took to Instagram to show her support for her husband.
“Way back when I met my Monday man crush,” Gayheart captioned a throwback photo of the couple.
February 2018
Gayheart cited “irreconcilable differences” as the cause of the couple’s split and sought spousal support and joint legal and physical custody of their daughters Billie and Georgia when she filed for divorce.
“After 14 years together we have decided that ending our marriage is the best decision for our family,” the duo said in a joint statement to E! News at the time. “We will continue our friendship and work as a team to co-parent our two beautiful girls as they are the most important thing in the world to us.”
However, the divorce was never finalized, and Dane revealed that the pair were still friends and “great” co-parents when he told Entertainment Tonight in 2019, “We have two kids. It’s not complicated…it doesn’t have to be.”
August 2019
One decade after the couple made headlines when a nude video with former Miss Teen USA Kari Ann Peniche was published online, Dane addressed the scandal in a rare interview.
“I often think about that answer I gave. And looking back now, was it a mistake? Absolutely not,” he told Glamour of previously describing the incident as a misstep. “Three consenting adults, one of them being my wife? I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
He added that his previous comments were “most likely referring to the drug use that was alluded to in the video.”
“And was that a mistake? Again, I don’t necessarily think I was breaking any laws and corrupting anybody,” the Grey’s Anatomy alum said. “We were just three people taking a bath.”
“I didn’t regret it, I have no regrets nor do I make any apologies for my life experience,” he concluded. “It’s my life experience and I’m at peace with all of it.”
After the tape was published in 2009, the couple was forced to take action, and as a result, Dane and Gayheart filed a $1 million copyright infringement against Gawker Media and reportedly settled for upwards of six-figures.
August 2022
The pair first sparked rumors of a reconciliation when they jetted off to Europe as a family of four. The Jawbreaker actress shared snaps from the trip showing Dane making a silly face at the camera with their girls.
“This is us,” Gayheart captioned the Instagram post. “Family vacay 2022.”
In a second pic from their European adventures, the foursome posed together with big smiles on the Parisian streets, as she wrote on the ‘gram, “A pit stop in Paris!”
The group then made their way across the coast to St. Tropez, with Gayheart documenting their journey on her Instagram Stories. “My people,” she captioned a snap of the fam with a friend.
January 2023
While she filed for divorce in 2018, Dane and Gayheart kicked off the New Year as one big family.
The Euphoria actor and the Beverly Hills, 90210 alum were photographed walking hand-in-hand off a boat together during a vacation with their two daughters.
March 2025
Gayheart filed to dismiss her divorce petition, seven years after submitting the papers.
