The Unexpected Star Who Helped Eric Dane When He Needed It Most

As Eric Dane’s ALS progressed, his famous friend Johnny Depp quietly made sure he had one less thing to worry about. According to a source of Page Six, Depp opened up one of his Los Angeles properties to the Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria actor after his April 2025 diagnosis. Rather than charging him rent, Depp reportedly told Dane to pay what he could ... or couldn't.

Dane was staying at a home Depp owns above the Sunset Strip, essentially rent-free. The two had known each other for years through mutual friends. When Dane’s health began to decline, Depp wanted to ease the financial strain that can come with long-term medical care, the source said.

Eric Dane's Right Side 'Completely Stopped Working'

Dane publicly revealed his ALS diagnosis last spring. By June, he said he had lost use of his right arm.

“My left side is functioning, my right side has completely stopped working,” he said during an appearance on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer. “I feel like maybe a couple more months and I won’t have my left hand either. It’s sobering.”

@gma

FULL INTERVIEW: Former "Grey's Anatomy" star Eric Dane speaks out for the first time in a television interview about his battle with ALS, a degenerative neurological disorder: “I just don’t feel in my heart that this is the end of me. I’m fighting as much as I can, there’s so much about it that’s out of my control.”

♬ original sound - Good Morning America

Even as his condition worsened, Dane remained active. He joined the board of Target ALS and continued working when he could. In November, he portrayed a firefighter with ALS on Brilliant Minds. But by January, he canceled an appearance at the ALS Network’s Champions for Cures and Care Gala, where he had been scheduled to be honored, citing the physical realities of the disease.

Dane died Thursday at 53 and Depp has not publicly commented on his support of the actor during the end of his life.