Rebecca Gayheart described her “super complicated” dynamic with estranged husband Eric Dane amid his ALS battle.
The actress has continued to “show up” for her ex to be a good “role model” to daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13.
“[I tell them], ‘No matter what, he is our family and he is your father,’” the model, 54, explained on Monday’s “Broad Ideas” podcast episode. “We show up, and we try to do it with some dignity and some grace and just get through it the best we can.”
She admitted, “It’s super complicated for me. We’ve been separated for eight years.”
Gayheart, who separated from Dane in 2018 but called off their divorce earlier this year, clarified that the teens “live with [her] 100 percent of the time.”
She has tried to “stay optimistic,” noting, “I don’t know if I’m doing it well or in the wrong way or right way, I’m just showing up and trying to be there for them. I guess time will tell.”
Gayheart spoke about the “particularly difficult” place Billie and Georgia are in.
“They are good girls who are just going through a lot,” she said. “I just want to make sure I provide them with the opportunity to spend time with him, so they don’t ever look back [and wish they did more].
“I really want to make sure to help facilitate that stuff for them, which is what I’m doing,” the “Scream 2” star continued. “I don’t know what their takeaway will be. I know it’s super complicated right now for so many reasons.”
Gayheart’s goal is that the girls will “get through this and feel OK about it.”
Dane, 53, went public with his diagnosis in April — one day after Gayheart addressed their relationship status.
“We are best of friends,” she gushed to E! News at the time. “We are really close. We are great co-parents.”
Gayheart added that they have “really figured out the formula to staying a family,” which their children are “benefiting greatly” from.
While the “Nip/Tuck” alum did not provide an update on Dane’s health during Monday’s episode, she did say she feels too “stretched thin” to date “during this time.”
Gayheart explained that she is “on a break” from someone she was seeing for two years because “the girls really need me even more now.”
She called dating “very difficult” — “impossible,” she clarified — because Billie and Georgia “are not going to be accepting of anyone because of what’s going on with their father.”
Dane, for his part, has been romantically linked to actress Priya Jain and filmmaker Janell Shirtcliff.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” alum made his red carpet debut with the latter in June.
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