Eric Dane opens up about emotional toll of ALS battle

Eric Dane is sharing everything about his ALS battle — including the emotional toll that the devastating diagnosis has taken on him.

The “Euphoria” actor, 53, gave the latest update on his health during a virtual panel with I AM ALS on Tuesday.

“I have no reason to be in a good spirit at any time, on any given day, I don’t think anybody would blame me if I went upstairs in my bedroom, crawled under the sheets, and spent the next two weeks crying,” said Dane, who is an ambassador for the nonprofit advocacy organization.

“And I was a little bit pleasantly surprised when I realized that I wasn’t built like that,” he added, “because I thought for sure that was gonna be me.”

Dane announced in April that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is nervous system disease that deteriorates over time and affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of muscle control.

The “Grey’s Anatomy” alum, who now uses a wheelchair and has only one functioning arm, explained at the virtual panel why he’s determined to keep talking about his health battle.

“I think it’s imperative that I share my journey with as many people as I can because I don’t feel like my life is about me anymore,” he said.

“And it’s something I’ve had to wrestle with because I’m a pretty selfish person, and I’d love for my life to be all about me, but I just can’t — I don’t think I’d be able to move forward if that were the case,” Dane continued.

Dane noted that while his family, which includes estranged wife Rebecca Gayheart and their two daughters, is his “priority,” talking about his ALS his also “such a big deal to me.”

“I make sure that people are aware of what ALS is and what it’s about, and more importantly, what we can do to combat it and improve the landscape, because it’s so rocky and littered with hurdles and bureaucracy and all this other nonsense that we’re trying to sift through so we can get to a place where we go, start working on solution,” he added.

Dane has mostly stepped back from acting to focus on his health, though he did play a firefighter with ALS during a recent episode of the NBC medical drama “Brilliant Minds.”

At the panel, Dane revealed he will only play “ALS-centric roles” from here on out.

“I am fairly limited in what I can do physically as an actor, but I still have my brain and I still have my speech,” he shared. “So I am willing to do just about anything. I’ll take on a role. But I think from here on out, it’s going to have to be ALS-centric.”

“It’s going to be very difficult for me to play any other role where … you know, look at the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and I’m fine with that,” he also said. “I’m grateful that I can still work in any capacity.”