Eric Dane has broken his silence over why he missed the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards as he continues to battle ALS. He had been scheduled to present alongside his former Grey’s Anatomy costar Jesse Williams.
Dane, 52, explained in a story for the Washington Post published on Thursday, October 2, that shortly before the September awards show, he lost his balance in his kitchen and fell.
“ALS is a nasty disease. … So I was in the hospital during the Emmys getting stitches put in my head,” Dane said. “I missed an opportunity I was really looking forward to. It would have been great to see Jesse and get reunited with some of my peers, and to be able to present in front of my colleagues I thought would have been a special moment. So I was really upset about it, but you know, there was nothing I could do about it.”
In Dane’s absence, Williams, 44, told Entertainment Weekly that he had “a really wonderful time” working with him on the long-running ABC medical drama.
“He’s solid,” Williams said. “The man’s just solid, and we have to be careful, you know, as men to still, you know, take care of ourselves and he’s got a perfect balance going.”
Dane explained that while he would have preferred to keep his illness private after first noticing symptoms in early 2024, he knew he would eventually have to be open about his condition.
“It wasn’t something I ever really wanted to do. It was something I felt like I had to do,” he said. “It was getting increasingly difficult to hide what was going on. And instead of letting people speculate what was happening, I just said it. … And I’ve never experienced a bigger outpouring of love and support than I have after I announced that.”
The Euphoria actor made his diagnosis public in April, and two months later sat down with Diane Sawyer of Good Morning America where he went into more detail, saying he had begun to lose function in his right arm.
“My left side is functioning. My right side, [which is my dominant side], has completely stopped working,” he explained. “[My left arm] is going. I feel like maybe a couple, a few more months and I won’t have my left. … I’m worried about my legs.”
Dane is continuing to work amid his battle with the disease as season 3 of Euphoria is currently in the works. At the same time, he is trying to help others suffering from ALS.
“I have been an open book about certain things in my life. This is something I felt compelled to share with people,” Dane told the Washington Post. “I don’t really have a dog in the fight, per se, when it comes to worrying about what people are going think about me. This is more of a: ‘How can I help? How can I be of some service?’”
“Not to be overly morbid,” he added. “But you know, if I’m going out, I’m gonna go out helping somebody.”
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