Rebecca Gayheart has opened up about her “very complicated” relationship with estranged husband Eric Dane amid his battle with ALS.
The actress continues to “show up” to help her ex-girlfriend be a good “role model” for her daughters Billy, 15, and Georgia, 13.
“(I tell them), ‘No matter what, he’s our family and he’s your father,'” the model, 54, explained on Monday’s podcast episode of “Broad Ideas.” “We’re going to go out there and do it with some dignity and grace and try to get through it the best we can.”
She admitted: “It’s very complicated for me. We’ve been separated for eight years.”
Gayheart, who separated from Dane in 2018 but called off their divorce earlier this year, clarified that the teens are “100 percent with[her].”
She is trying to “stay optimistic,” adding, “I don’t know if I’m doing it well, if I’m doing it the wrong way, if I’m doing it the right way. I’m just trying to show up and be there for them. Time will tell.”
Gayheart spoke of the “particularly difficult” situation Billy and Georgia are in.
“They’re good kids and they’re just going through a lot,” she said. “I want to make sure they have the opportunity to spend time with him so they never look back (and wish they had done more).
“I really want to help facilitate things like that for them. That’s what I do,” the “Scream 2” star continued. “We don’t know what they’re going to get. We know it’s very complicated right now for so many reasons.”
Gayheart’s goal is to help girls “get through this and feel like they’re going to be okay.”
Dane, 53, announced his diagnosis in April, a day after Gayheart spoke about his relationship status.
“We’re best friends,” she told E! News at the time. “We’re really close. We’re great co-parents.”
Gayheart added that they had “really figured out a formula to keep their family going” and that their children “are benefitting greatly” from that.
The “Nip/Tuck” alum didn’t provide an update on Dane’s health during Monday’s episode, but said he felt he was too “thin” to date “at this time of year.”
Gayheart explained that she was “on a hiatus” with her boyfriend of two years because “the girls need me more right now.”
She clarified that it would be “very difficult” and “impossible” for Billy and Georgia to date because “nobody is going to accept it because of what’s going on with their father.”
Dane was romantically linked to actress Priya Jayne and director Janelle Shirtcliffe.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” alum made her red carpet debut with the latter in June.
