Eric Dane and estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart’s daughters are proving it’s no urban legend that kids grow up to be mini-mes of their parents.
Dane, 51, attended the Los Angeles premiere of his upcoming film Bad Boys: Ride or Die alongside his and Gayheart’s two girls, Billie, 12, and Georgia, 10, on Thursday, May 30. Dane, sporting a casual look of black slacks and a navy button up, smiled wide as he posed with both daughters flanking him on either side.
Both girls rocked black dresses for the event, with Georgia opting to wear her bleached blonde tresses in loose beach waves. Billie, meanwhile, was a dead ringer for her mom, with her tight curls pulled back except for a few pieces framing her face. She sported more dramatic glam of a smokey eye and pink lip, emulating Gayheart’s style from the ‘90s when she starred in films like Urban Legend, Scream 2 and Jawbreaker.
Dane and Gayheart tied the knot in Las Vegas in 2004 after less than one year of dating. When asked about their romance began, Dane told Flaunt magazine in 2008 that their love story was one of the most “least interesting in the world. It went basically like this: ‘You wanna go out?’ ‘Yeah, sure.’ Ten months later, we were married.”
Billie was born in 2010, with Georgia arriving the following year. Dane reflected on being a girl dad while appearing on Harry Connick Jr.’s talk show in 2016, jokingly calling his home the “estrogen mafia.” He noted that when Gayheart first got pregnant, the pair knew that “boy or a girl, their firstborn was gonna be a Billy.”
The duo were married for more than a decade before Gayheart filed for divorce in 2018. She cited “irreconcilable differences” as the cause for the split while also seeking spousal support and joint legal and physical custody of both daughters.
The pair have since coparented amicably, and have even been spotted out and about together with Billie and Georgia on multiple occasions. However, Gayheart admitted that it “hasn’t been easy” to navigate parenthood post-split, exclusively telling Us Weekly in in 2018 that the exes are doing their “best,” despite things being challenging. She added, however, that she felt empowered by ending her 14-year marriage.
“I think that as a female you need to be able to always take care of yourself and never depend on a man,” she told Us at the time. “I’m going back to work and I think it’s partly because I want my daughters to see me work. I took some time off to have my kids. … A lot of little girls watch and they start fantasizing about Prince Charming [saving them]. I think that’s a message that’s very old fashioned.”
Dane and Gayheart’s split came one year after the Grey’s Anatomy alum stepped away from filming TNT’s The Last Ship while battling depression. After three months out of the spotlight, Dane opened up about his mental health struggles during an appearance on the Today show, noting that while he has dealt with mental health issues his “whole life” this particular episode hit him “like a truck.”
Dane added that while he was “conflicted” about the time off because he didn’t feel like he “had anything to be depressed about,” he ultimately “went away” to “take care of it” and is now “doing amazing.”
Despite his highs and lows, Dane told People in 2021 that he was “really happy” with his life, but added that there are certain parts of his history with Gayheart he wishes he could change. “We’ve all made mistakes,” he said. “My one regret is that I got the person I love most wrapped up in all that: Rebecca.”
Bad Boys: Ride or Die hits theaters on Friday, June 5.