Eric Dane's girlfriend Janell Shirtcliff honoured the late actor after his death with a series of social media posts. Photo / Janell Shirtcliff
Eric Dane's girlfriend Janell Shirtcliff honoured the late actor after his death with a series of social media posts. Photo / Janell Shirtcliff
The girlfriend of late actor Eric Dane has paid an emotional tribute to the Grey’s Anatomy star, following his death this week aged 53.
Janell Shirtcliff, a filmmaker and photographer, took to Instagram to share a collection of photographs from their time together as she lovingly mourns the star, whodied on Friday after a 10-month battle with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
In a series of posts, Shirtcliff – who dated Dane on and off for three years – posted candid snaps of the pair, including one that showed them standing on a flight of stars as Dane tenderly kissed her forehead.
In another PDA moment, the Euphoria star could be seen kissing her shoulder as they soaked up some sun from an undisclosed location. Another never-before-seen image shared by Shirtcliff featured Dane smiling while getting a tattoo on his left arm.
In her final post, Shirtcliff shared a clip of Dane in a sweet moment with one of her kids, who was attempting to take photos of him.
“I want you to look over there at Mum,” her daughter told him in the video, telling him to “smile”.
In the unseen photos, Dane looked happy and relaxed. Photo / Instagram
Dane was a father to daughters of his own, Billie Dane, 15, and Georgia Dane, 14, who he shared with his estranged wife, actress Rebecca Gayheart.
The couple split in 2018 after 13 years of marriage. The actress ultimately called off their divorce in March 2025, one month before Eric Dane went public with his ALS diagnosis, and they have remained close.
“We are best of friends. We are really close. We are great co-parents,” Gayheart told E! News last April.
“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.
“I think it’s important to not look at a relationship that ends as a failure. It’s just a season. It wasn’t a failure. It was a huge success,” she continued.
“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.”
Two months after Gayheart’s comment, Dane made his red carpet debut with Shirtcliff, walking hand-in-hand at the red carpet premiere of his crime series Countdown in LA.
Despite his relationship with Shirtcliff, Dane continued to have love and admiration for Gayheart.
“Well we still love each other deeply, I just don’t think we want to live with each other,” Dane quipped to Brad Falchuck in his Famous Last Words interview that aired on Netflix on February 20.
“There’s a lot of love there. I will never, by the time anybody sees this, would have ever fallen in love with another woman as deeply as I fell in love with Rebecca.”
Dane’s Grey’s Anatomy co-star, Kate Walsh, also paid her respects on social media.
“I’m at a loss for words to try to express the sadness around Eric’s passing,” the actress posted. “First and foremost I am thinking of his girls and Rebecca and holding them in my prayers and my heart.”
“One of the things I loved about Eric was his sensitivity and vulnerability, (and intelligence, of course) but he had the gravitas & old soul that made his work magnetic and made him a great friend off set. In those early days of Grey’s, as with most network tv shows, we spent more time with each other than with anyone else and so we became a family of sorts and Eric was such a source of support and love.”
Walsh played Dr Addison Montgomery on the medical drama during seasons two and three from 2005 to 2007, and Dane starred on the show as Dr Mark Sloan aka “McSteamy” from season two to nine. At one point, their characters had a short-lived affair.
“I literally remember my very first scene with Eric ... an elevator scene at Seattle Grace. So, so long ago,” she recalled in her tribute.
“I believe it was his first scene on the show too and he was nervous. He was so handsome and I thought ‘but can this guy act?’ and of course he could, and did, and the rest is history.”
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