'Grey's Anatomy' star Chyler Leigh recalls moment she learned Eric Dane died

Chyler Leigh is opening up about the heartbreaking moment she learned about the death of her Grey’s Anatomy co-star Eric Dane three months ago.

Speaking on the You Might Know Her From podcast on May 14, the actress revealed that the devastating news hit her while she was in the middle of a press tour in Los Angeles for her Hallmark Channel series The Way Home. 

“My publicist called me and said, ‘Hey, I just want you to know, be prepared that Eric passed,’” Leigh recalled. “Because it was going to all come out, I think the next day. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I didn't know how to comprehend it.”

The emotional weight of the news didn’t fully sink in until she boarded a flight back to Nashville. “All of a sudden, it just hit. I had to keep getting up and going to use the lavatory because I was just sobbing,” she shared.

Dane, who died on February 19 at age 53 following his battle with ALS, was more than just a former co-star to Leigh. The pair became close while playing each other’s love interests Mark Sloan and Lexie Grey on Grey’s Anatomy.

“Eric had one of the kindest hearts. We had a deep relationship, a respect for one another,” Leigh said, later adding, “I will always look back fondly as far as that goes… because I just loved the man.”

She also admitted she was caught off guard by the intensity of her grief, saying she “didn't know it was going to hit me that hard” as old scenes of the pair resurfaced online in the days after his death.