Back in April, Eric Dane announced that he had been diagnosed with ALS, a devastating degenerative disease. People responded with waves of sympathy for Dane and his family. He’s been married to Rebecca Gayheart since October 2004 and they have two teenage daughters, Billie and Georgia. Rebecca and Eric have a long history of marriage problems, and Rebecca even filed for divorce at one point, but she actually filed to dismiss the divorce in March of this year. Rebecca was widely cited as his wife when his ALS diagnosis came out, and the vibe was definitely “we’re going to face this as a family.”
Well, last week, Dane walked the carpet for the premiere of his new Prime series, Countdown (the photos in this post). His date was not his wife. His date was Janell Shirtcliff, a director. For some reason, Eric Dane decided to do a hard-launch of his girlfriend/side-chick! What’s even worse is that it turns out that Shirtcliff isn’t his only girlfriend, at least according to his other girlfriend.
Eric Dane’s alleged girlfriend, Priya Jain, was “blindsided” by his red carpet debut with Janell Shirtcliff, Page Six has exclusively learned.
“They never broke up,” a source told us Thursday. The actor, 52, brought Shirtcliff to Wednesday’s Los Angeles premiere of his new series, “Countdown,” with a source claiming to “Entertainment Tonight” that “the two have been in an on-and-off relationship for over three years and care deeply for each other.”
However, we’re told it was the first time Jain, 27, had ever heard of the director, 41. Our source said Jain, who has been photographed with Dane multiple times, met him last summer and that they became “exclusive” in November 2024 — right before he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
According to our source, Jain was “devastated by the diagnosis” but stood by the “Grey’s Anatomy” alum’s side. Interestingly, ET’s source claimed that “Eric asked Janell to be there for him during this time, and she wanted to show up for him.”
We’re told that since Jain and Dane met, she has spent almost every night at his house, where she has tons of clothes. Our source added that the actress has even spent time with Dane’s kids — daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13 — whom he shares with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart. Gayheart, 53, recently clarified that she and her on-again, off-again husband are “staying a family” and remain the “best of friends.”
How in the world is Eric Dane maintaining such a messy personal life at this moment?? He’s lost function in one arm and yet he has two girlfriends and a whole-ass wife, all at the same time? Now, I do wonder if he actually split with Priya Jain and she’s just not acknowledging it?
Here are photos of Dane with Jain from April:
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
