Nearly a year before he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Eric Dane was enjoying dinner with his daughters when he found himself struggling to use the utensils.Little did he know at the time, the strange sensation marked the beginning of his battle with the motor neuron disease for which there is no cure. Dane died at age 53 earlier this year but an upcoming memoir he wrote during his health battle will now be released – laying bare his battle with addiction, his relationship with wife Rebecca Gayheart and the first signs of his illness. My Book Of Days: A Memoir of Moments is set to be published on November 3 and describes how a dinner with his children first sparked concern, according to an excerpt obtained by People. ‘I’m eating sushi with my kids and suddenly I can’t work the chopsticks with my right hand. My hand tingles, and then my fingers feel numb,’ he said.At first, Dane suspected it was ‘some kind of weird nerve thing’ that he thought could have been the result of ‘texting too much.’ Eric Dane has revealed he first noticed signs of his ALS during sushi dinner with his daughters Billie and GeorgiaHe attempted to ‘shake it off,’ but the frightening symptom returned less than a month later and greater in severity. ‘Three weeks later, it happens again, only worse. I can’t grip the chopsticks at all,’ the actor wrote in his book.He said the second occurrence sparked a nine-month journey ‘searching for answers’ before he was ultimately diagnosed. Dane was initially apprehensive about writing the memoir and delving into his addiction struggles, Gayheart told People. Yet she is ‘grateful he did, because it gives my girls the opportunity to know their dad as a human being.’ The couple married in October 2004, separated in September 2017 and called off their divorce in March 2025 – one month before Dane publicly announced his ALS diagnosis.The couple shared shared daughters Georgia, 14, and Billie, 16. Dane was eating sushi and found himself struggling to ‘work’ the chopsticks with his right hand – a symptom he chalked up to excessive texting. Above, Dane with his family in 2016 The former power couple wed in October 2004, separated in September 2017 and called off their divorce in March 2025 after his diagnosis with ALSGayheart told Dane ‘I’m not going anywhere’ when she first learned about his devastating diagnosis, the memoir reveals. He had called Gayheart after his appointment in which he received his diagnosis and told her, ‘It’s what we feared,’ according to an excerpt shared by People.’I don’t remember a single word I said after that,’ he said, adding that Gayheart was ‘wailing on the other end of the phone.”My sobs make my body shudder, and I hear her words pouring out amid her tears, ‘I’m here, we’ll fight this together, I’m not going anywhere,” he shared.Dane said he turned his focus to being strong for the girls, declaring: ‘I’m going to take this on. I’m going to fight. I’m going to show my girls how to walk through this life with grace and dignity, no matter what. I am going to FIGHT.’This has become my purpose. My reason. This is now my job.’ Dane said the second occurrence of the same symptom sparked a nine-month journey ‘searching for answers’ before he was ultimately diagnosed Dane’s memoir, My Book Of Days: A Memoir in Moments, will be released on November 3, less than a year after his death Elsewhere in the memoir, he discussed the demise of his marriage to Gayheart, which he said was due in part to his substance abuse struggles.’My work hours, my addiction complications, the times I’m away, the times I’m here but not here,’ he listed as reasons for the fallout.He said they ‘all weigh on Rebecca, smother her, disappoint her, infuriate her. I get it, I see it, I don’t fight it.’However, he noted that: ‘We’ve since stayed close, co-parenting, going on vacations as a family, spending time together and now we talk every day.’Gayheart wrote in a December 2025 essay published by The Cut that her love for Dane was no longer romantic, but ‘familial.’ ‘We had a really lovely marriage for a long time – we were married for 15 years – we created two beautiful girls,’ she wrote. ‘But also, lots of s**t went crazy in our relationship, and it wasn’t good. We separated, but we never got a divorce; we were about to and then we didn’t. We haven’t lived in the same home for eight years; he’s dated other people, I’ve dated someone.”It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people,’ she acknowledged.’Our love may not be romantic, but it’s familial love. Eric knows that I am always going to want the best for him. That I’m going to do my best to do right by him. And I know he would do the same for me.’