Eric Dane recalls doing ‘every drug imaginable’ and going to rehab five times during Grey’s Anatomy in posthumous memoir

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By SONIA HORON, US ASSISTANT SHOWBIZ EDITOR 00:40 20 Oct 2026, updated 00:56 20 Oct 2026

Eric Dane revealed the staggering amount of drugs he tried in his twenties in his posthumous memoir, My Book of Days: A Memoir in Moments.

The late actor – who died at 53 in February of this year after battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – wrote about his struggle with addiction in an excerpt obtained by People, where he admitted, ‘I don’t think there’s a drug I didn’t try.’

‘I call that my dark period. I auditioned for a few roles, got cast in some, but mainly I did drugs,’ the Grey’s Anatomy star wrote.

‘I got high, I got stoned, I got wasted, I shot up, I freebased, I did every drug imaginable.’

Dane then shared a ‘partial’ list of all the drugs he tried: ‘Booze, pot, acid. Heroin. Cocaine. Mushrooms. Mescaline. Crystal meth. Crack. Painkillers. Fistfuls of painkillers. Buckets of painkillers. Vicodin, Percocet, OxyContin, you name it, everything on the market.’

‘All the benzos. Xanax. Valium. All the muscle relaxers. All the uppers. Adderall. Ritalin,’ he added.

Dane, who played plastic surgeon Dr. Mark Sloan – also known as McSteamy – on Grey’s Anatomy from 2006 to 2012, also recalled going to rehab five times during his time on the show.

The actor said that he relapsed in his painkiller addiction around 2008, after herniating a cervical disc in his neck while working out.

‘My body goes to s**t. I drop to 170, my face caves in, my eyes cloud, I look gaunt; s**t, I look like a drug addict,’ he wrote, adding, ‘I feel other members of the cast looking at me. They’re my friends. My work family. No. My family. They don’t judge me. They don’t look angry. They look concerned. They look sad.’

Dane went on to share that as his addiction became more apparent, Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes pulled him aside a number of times to tell him she would ‘take care’ of him if he needed a break.

After multiple rehab stays, Dane was able to ‘stay sober on set’, but added, ‘Physically, I appear healthy. But mentally, I’m on my way out.’

As for his character, he wrote: ‘I love Mark Sloan, but I need to quit him.’

In 2012, at the end of season eight, Rhimes told him he would not be returning for next season.

‘Despite Mark Sloan’s popularity, I have become too expensive. I have become expendable,’ Dane wrote.

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While filming his next big role, The Last Ship, in 2017, Dane checked into treatment for depression, halting production for six weeks.

The following year, his marriage to Rebecca Gayheart, 55, with whom he had two daughters, Billie, 16, and Georgia, 14, collapsed after 14 years.

Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018 and they moved into separate homes. By 2020, the pair had started to sort their divorce paperwork, when Dane received his ALS diagnosis.

‘Through it all, Rebecca not only shows up, she remains my best friend. She drops by every day, early in the morning, late at night, sometimes in the middle of the night when she knows I won’t be sleeping.’

‘She’s the person I call, the one I go to when I need to talk, when I need to scream, when I need to cry.’

Elsewhere in his memoir he also recalled a horrifying moment in which he nearly drowned before he was saved by his daughter Georgia.

Dane wrote that his youngest child and her friend rescued him from drowning while on a vacation in Antigua following his ALS diagnosis in 2024.

The upcoming memoir comes less than nine months after Dane died at 53 from respiratory failure amid his ALS battle.

In a statement released in the wake of his passing, a spokesperson for the actor said: ‘He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world.’

‘Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight.’

The statement continued: ‘He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he’s received.’

Dane’s posthumous memoir is set for release on November 3.

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