Eric Dane's Posthumous Memoir Arrives Nov. 3: Excerpts Show How ALS Took Away His Ability to Swim and to Hug His Daughters
People magazine has published exclusive excerpts from the posthumous memoir of the late actor Eric Dane, "My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments." Dane completed the book before his death, and it is set to be released on November 3 by The Open Field, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group. Dane died in Los Angeles on February 19 at age 53 of respiratory failure caused by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Penguin Random House previously confirmed that he worked on the book right up to the end and wanted his daughters and readers to have these words.
The most widely noted passage describes a vacation in Antigua after his diagnosis. After jumping into the ocean, Dane realized he could no longer swim and could not generate enough power to get back to the boat; his younger daughter, Georgia, and her friend pulled him from the water. He sent Georgia back to snorkeling, then called his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, in tears: "I can't swim, Rebecca. I can't swim." Gayheart answered through tears: "I was afraid of this day. I knew it would come. I've been dreading it." Dane had also told the story in a June 2025 "Good Morning America" interview with Diane Sawyer, saying that was the moment he realized he was not safe in the water anymore.
The memoir also reveals his first symptom. In January 2024, while eating sushi with his children, his right hand suddenly could not work the chopsticks and his fingers felt numb; he shook it off, thinking he was probably texting too much. Three weeks later it happened again, worse, and he could not grip the chopsticks at all. After a chain of hand specialists and neurologists, he publicly announced his ALS diagnosis in April 2025. In December 2025, after his elder daughter Billie performed in "The Nutcracker," he tried to give her their customary hug and found he could no longer lift his arms: "I'm so sorry I can't wrap my arms around you. I can't lift my arms anymore." Billie embraced him instead, and they cried together.
The book also addresses his addiction and his departure from "Grey's Anatomy." Dane writes that he struggled with painkiller addiction during the show and entered rehab five times; creator Shonda Rhimes offered to let him take time away for help. Toward the end of Season 8 in 2012, he was told the show would not bring him back for Season 9. He writes that the ending came down to money: despite Mark Sloan's popularity, he had become too expensive and expendable, while conceding that his addiction "didn't help." Dane played plastic surgeon Mark Sloan, nicknamed "McSteamy," on "Grey's Anatomy" from 2006, later starred in "The Last Ship," and played Cal Jacobs in "Euphoria."
In passages addressed to his two daughters, he wrote: "Never give up. No matter what happens to you, fight until your last breath. This disease is slowly taking my body, but it will never take my spirit... You two are my legacy, my heart, my everything." He also wrote that he would show his girls how to walk through life with grace and dignity, no matter what. The publisher describes the book as a reflection on family, resilience, faith, sobriety, fatherhood, and living fully in the face of terminal illness. Dane and Gayheart married in 2004; they separated in 2018 but remained married and close coparents. When his family announced his death in February, they said he spent his final days surrounded by friends, his wife, and his two daughters, who were the center of his world.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：埃里克·戴恩2017年7月23日在 San Diego Comic-Con 出席活动。Gage Skidmore 摄，CC BY-SA 2.0，维基共享资源（资料图）。Photo: Eric Dane at San Diego Comic-Con on July 23, 2017. Photo by Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (file photo).
