Ellen Pompeo On Pay Parity Battle To Match ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Co-Star Patrick Dempsey: “Only A Man Can Have 13 Failed TV Pilots & Their Quote Keeps Going Up”
Ellen Pompeo fought for pay parity on Grey's Anatomy to match her co-star Patrick Dempsey's salary.
Ellen Pompeo fought for pay parity on Grey’s Anatomy to match her co-star Patrick Dempsey‘s salary.
While appearing on Call Her Daddy, Pompeo acknowledges that when the drama series started, Dempsey was more well-known than her, but her character’s name was on the show.
“To be completely fair, the television game was so different then. He had done 13 pilots before me,” Pompeo said. “Nothing personal to him, just in general, only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote keeps going up, right? But in all fairness, his quote was what it was.”
Related Stories CastingChris O'Donnell Joins ABC's '9-1-1: Nashville'She continued, “He was a bigger star than I was at that point. No one knew who I was. Everybody knew who he was, so he did deserve that money. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve that money. It’s just, being that I was the namesake of the show, I deserved the same and that was harder to get.”
Watch on DeadlineIn 2018, Pompeo became the highest-paid actress in a drama series, making $20M a season.
“I wasn’t salty about him getting what he got. I was salty that they didn’t value me as much as they valued him, and they never will,” she added.
Pompeo noted that her fight for pay parity came when she reached a certain point in her career where she felt like this battle was for herself and all the other women coming up behind her.
“I see exactly how much Grey’s Anatomy makes for ABC/Disney. I get to see the number. It’s my face, it’s my voice,” she said. “I’ve done so much work promoting the show all over the world for the past 20 years. I am the Disney princess of that franchise.”
Watch the full interview below.
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