From Lou Gehrig 1939 to Eric Dane in 2025, celebrities have been publicly dealing with what is now known as ALS for decades.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. This disease causes a person to gradually lose control of their muscles, starting gradually with muscle stiffness or twitches and evolving to completely eliminate their ability to eat and breathe.
Since Gehrig’s death in 1941, many more people in society have battled the disease. American physicist Stephen Hawking he first showed signs of ALS in 1963, and, despite being given only two years to live, survived until 2018, raising awareness along the way.
Despite advances in reducing the disease and controlling symptoms, there is no cure. Dane announced his diagnosis in April 2025, in his statement People“I have been diagnosed with ALS. I am grateful to have my loving family by my side as we navigate this next chapter.”
“I feel lucky that I was able to continue working and I’m looking forward to getting back on set Euphoria next week,” he continued, “I would kindly ask you to give my family some privacy during this time.”
Dane’s lawyer confirmed his death at the age of 53 in February 2026.
Keep scrolling to find out more celebrities who have battled ALS:
Jenny Slatten
Jenny Slatten
Courtesy of Sumit Singh/Instagram90 Day Partner star Jenny Slatten He revealed in May 2026 that he had just passed being diagnosed with ALS after having symptoms for more than a year.
“There were rumors that I had a stroke, but it turned out to be ALS,” Slatten wrote on Instagramwhen you share the news for the first time. “For now, we’re open to any kind of help. Treatment, clinical trials, lifestyle changes or anything that can help cure this disease or slow its progression.”
Russell Andrews
An actor Russell Andrews revealed his ALS diagnosis in May 2026.
“I am a person living with ALS. I was diagnosed late last year. It was humbling,” Better Call Saul said the alum during an appearance on CNN’s Story With Elex Michaelson. “I thought I was having a stroke during COVID. It was a stressful time.”
Andrews continued, “There were times when there was numbness. There were things I thought I had a pinched nerve in my neck and it was very frequent. I couldn’t do the things I used to do. I would drop cups and glasses, and at night, it felt like things were going up and down my arm at different times, and it was the nerves.”
Fiancee of Andrews, actress Erica Tazelyou will be his guardian.
“Being evaluated is a process. When he interviewed me at the beginning, I said I was unusually calm,” Tazel said. “In a way, it was the answer to many questions we had, there were some things we started to see that were different, for example, it took him a long time to clean the pool, the way he walked was a little subtle [change] … things like that. I had questions. I was like, ‘Something’s really wrong,’ so now we know what it was.”
Eric Dane
Dane, known for playing Mark Sloan Grey’s Anatomy and Cal Jacobs EuphoriaHe revealed his diagnosis in April 2025 at the age of 52. He died less than a year ago in February 2026.
Stephen Hawking
Hawking had a slow-growing form of ALS, which allowed him to survive for decades before his death in 2018 at the age of 76. During that time, he continued his work as a theoretical scientist and became a role model for those with neurodegenerative disorders.
Riverdale, Glee and other TV shows have had to deal with the difficult task of writing characters after their characters died off-screen. Thank you! You have successfully registered. Sign up for newsletters Enter your email Please enter a valid email. Sign Up By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and receive emails from Us […]
Brooke Eby
After his diagnosis in 2022, Eby launched his social media accounts to document his experience and quickly became a major influencer in the ALS community. As of April 2025, he has more than 220,000 followers on Instagram, the channel he uses to update followers on the progress of the disease. He can no longer use both of his legs and is in a wheelchair while his arms are beginning to work less.
Catfish hunter
Known as baseball’s first free agent, Hall of Fame pitcher Hunter was diagnosed with ALS in 1997. He died two years later at the age of 53.
John Driskell Hopkins
The Zac Brown Band founding member was diagnosed with ALS in 2021 and revealed his diagnosis in May 2022. As of April 2025, he continues to play music, telling CBS in 2024, “I’m going to sing about it.” He also founded the organization Hop on a Cure to raise money for ALS research.
Sarah Langs
The popular sportswriter started having symptoms in 2019 and was officially diagnosed with ALS in 2021. Despite his diagnosis, he continued to work for MLB.com and has run three marathons while showing symptoms. Langs is now in a wheelchair, but teams throughout Major League Baseball continue to honor him on Lou Gehrig Day, which is celebrated annually on June 2.
Aaron Lazar
An actor, known for his role The Wolf of Wall Street again J. Edgarannounced in January 2024 that he had been diagnosed with ALS two years earlier.
Pete Frates
The former college baseball player rose to fame in 2014 by helping the Ice Bucket Challenge go viral in an effort to raise money for ALS research. He received his diagnosis in 2012 and died in 2019 at the age of 34.
Stephen Hillenburg
Hillenburg, the animator and voice actor who created it SpongeBob SquarePantshe received his diagnosis in 2017 and died a year later at the age of 57. 2020 movie SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run it was dedicated to him.
Roberta Flack
The R&B singer and five-time Grammy Award winner retired in 2022 after ALS left him unable to continue singing. He was best known for the songs “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” Flack died in February 2025 at the age of 88.
Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jack Osbourne and many other celebrities have opened up about dealing with autoimmune sclerosis. Applegate revealed in August 2021 that he had been diagnosed with the disease. “Hi friends. A few months ago, I was diagnosed with MS,” the Married … With Children alum wrote about X. […]
Steve Gleason
Gleason was a safety for the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2007. The football player received his diagnosis just weeks before he and his wife learned they were expecting their first child, son Rivers. In 2019, he received a Congressional Gold Medal for his work raising awareness of ALS and the ESPYs awarded him the Arthur Ashe Courage Award in 2024.
Mike Pocaro
The bassist of rock band Toto quit the band in 2007 when muscle weakness made it difficult to continue playing. He went public with his diagnosis in 2010 and died in 2015 at the age of 59.
Hollywood mourned many celebrities in 2024, including Shannen Doherty and Liam Payne. Us Weekly confirmed Doherty’s death on July 14. The Beverly Hills, 90210 star battled breast cancer from 2015 to 2017, sharing nearly three years later that it had returned. In 2023, Doherty shared that her stage 4 breast cancer had spread […]
Kim Shatuck
Shattuck was the lead singer and guitarist for the punk rock band the Muffs. He continued to make music with the band until shortly before his death, the Muffs releasing an album 16 days after his death in 2019 at the age of 56.
Kenneth Mitchell
The actor is best known for his leading role in the CBS series in Jericho revealed his diagnosis in February 2020. He continued to act, incorporating his wheelchair into his roles Star Trek: Discovery. Mitchell died in 2024 at the age of 49.
Joe Bosall
The Oak Ridge Boys member retired from the band in January 2024 due to a neuromuscular disorder that was not diagnosed as ALS until after his death in July at the age of 76.
Tanea Brooks
The AEW star announced in May 2026 that he was diagnosed with “terminal ALS” at the age of 47.
“There’s not a lot of research behind ALS, and we don’t know how long I have,” Brooks explains. “It explains why I have trouble walking and talking [and] all my works will come down soon. But now, we can prepare for the future and what is to come.”
He continued, “I want to say thank you [AEW founder] Tony Khan and AEW for supporting me on this medical journey. It has been an unheard of blessing and, from the bottom of my heart, I am thankful and grateful to all of you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for a peaceful journey and a peaceful passing away.”
