In the world of celebrity, the lights rarely dim. However, whilst the glitz and glam might seem the case, real lives play out and sometimes those lives miss a fatal point. On the same day, two beloved individuals, Grammy winning artist Michael Bolton and world renowned actor Eric Dane, divulged sensitive health battles that have fundamentally affected their lives and their family’s.
When Michael‘s daughter, Taryn Bolton, came out with the news in an interview with People on April 30, 2025, that both her father and his father Michael Bolton were diagnosed with glioblastoma, the world had been stunned.
After Thanksgiving in 2023, the first signs appeared while on what seemed a normal family outing. I took myself off to the bowling alley for what should have been a joyful evening. And Taryn recalled her father acting super weird, bowling out of turn — weird, something completely out of character. He had suddenly fallen from his chair earlier in the same evening.
Taryn said about him, ‘He’s super athletic and doesn’t drink’. “That’s how it happened and we were like, ‘What just happened?’”
First, the family put it down as a result of stress and fatigue. When Michael was actively touring, filming a movie cameo and promoting a new album. Days later, a severe headache brought me to a hospital. Doctors removed the brain tumor in early December, after an MRI showed one. Pathology came the week later and confirmed their worst fears – glioblastoma.
It was announced in January 2024 when Michael released an emotional message on Facebook thanking fans for their support and announcing that he was temporarily stepping away from touring. In October he finished radiation and chemo and in April of 2025 his latest scans show no recurrence, an encouraging but guarded relief because that tumor is notorious for returning.
Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults and is associated with rapid and advanced disease that is refractory to most treatments. Even the symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, speech problems, personality changes, are subtle but essential warning signs. Dr. Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Ingo Mellinghoff, however, focused on taking small behavioral changes seriously, even if it is just a few days.
In his interview, Bolton said that ‘you’re really quickly drawn into a duel.’ “That was how you find out what you were made of.”
Michael isn’t fazed by struggles with speech, memory, and balance. Today, he’s no longer caring too much about his career but pushing it aside to spend it with his three daughters (Taryn, Holly, Isa) and dwell on what matters most in life.
A torrent of love went online for fans. “This is soo sad 🙏 What a beautiful family wrote one commenter. “God Bless Michael, may you have enough courage.” Others said they had felt that something was not right during recent appearances.
Yet, Michael’s diagnosis is not a story of despair. It is one of unity. Family traditions and small joys give his daughters the strength to remain by his side. After surgery Michael started to sing, one time a nurse replied, “Does anybody know that he can sing like that?”
Indeed, they do.
These comments come as actor Eric Dane shared another deeply personal health update to People this week: he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurological disease of the brain that makes control of muscles more difficult.
The 52 year old actor states that he appreciates having his loving family beside him to guide through this next chapter. He is also father to daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 13, and his wife is actress Rebecca Gayheart.
ALS is unforgiving. Motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord become diseased and bulbar eventually leading to the loss of the ability to control voluntary muscles. The number of people dying with symptoms is best illustrated by saying that most people with ALS will live for three to five years after their symptoms appear. There is no known cure.
Still determined to work, Dane has been diagnosed with this seemingly daunting diagnose. “Fortunately, I can still work, and I’m looking to return to the Euphoria set next week.”
Similarly, Eric’s personal life has gone in a rather unexpected but hopeful direction. However, just last month, Rebecca Gayheart was granted permission to dismiss her long running divorce case—seven years after getting divorced. The two married in 2004, and it appears they have reconnected after such a life changing diagnosis as a couple.
They have had a very difficult journey. In a past interview, Dane also talked about his drug battles and how difficult it is to succeed under the limelight. But his quiet departure from Grey’s Anatomy was not a dismissal: He was a slow fade, he said, due to personal and professional problems.
Eric also had had a scare with skin cancer over the years, which was treated with great success, but got it over the years. But now, with an ALS diagnosis, he is going through another trial: that of proving his mettle, his friends and his self once more.
His past tells you that Dane never shies from the truth. Using honesty and resilience, he faces it head on.
The grim medical reality has proven very tough to handle, and both Michael Bolton and Eric Dane have displayed admirable grace. They haven’t done so to get sympathy but to share solidarity with anyone who has a serious illness: that they’re not alone.
As he put it himself, “There is no alternative to succumbing to the challenge.”
“We can make it through this next chapter together, as we always will, ” Eric said in Eric’s.
They are artists. Fathers. Fighters.
However, in revealing their battles, they have imparted something to their fans, and perhaps one another, that’s almost as lasting as a top track or a movie role: hope.
