As the Grey’s Anatomy family mourns the death of Eric Dane, Katherine Heigl has paid tribute to the late actor in a statement.
On Sunday, the actress who played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the ABC medical drama for six seasons said she was “grateful I got to bask in” Dane’s gold before he died at age 53 on Thursday, following a year-long struggle with ALS.
“I debated this post for days. I have never been comfortable grieving publicly,” she started in the Instagram caption. “I share my tears, my stories and my memories with those I’m closest to and more times than not I share them only with the heavens alone. But that silence can often look like a lack of care which I could not abide here.
“Rebecca, Billie, Georgia… There is so little, if in fact anything, one can say about a tragic loss like yours. All the ‘I’m sorries’ and ‘my prayers are with you’ ring a bit hollow in the midst of so much pain and grief. So I will say the only thing that has ever brought me peace when I’ve lost someone I love. It is Robert Frost’s poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay’ of which I have tattooed on my body in my parent’s handwriting so I will never forget that the moment of gold was worth it.”
Heigl included the poem, “‘Natures first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, so Dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.’ I will never forget Eric’s gold and I will forever be grateful I got to bask in it for even a brief moment in time. Thank you for sharing him with us. God Speed my old friend…here’s to your next great adventure.”
On Thursday, Dane’s family announced that he died after revealing his ALS diagnosis last April. “With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS,” they said in a statement. “He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world.”
