Ellen Pompeo Says This ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Scene Felt Miserable
Ellen Pompeo is getting candid about some of the most challenging moments she faced during her 19-season run on "Grey’s Anatomy."
Ellen Pompeo is getting candid about some of the most challenging moments she faced during her 19-season run on "Grey’s Anatomy," including a sex scene she describes as a total nightmare.
During an appearance on "Call Her Daddy" this week, Ellen Pompeo reflected on filming an intimate scene with T.R. Knight, who played Dr. George O’Malley.
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Ellen Pompeo Opens Up About ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Scene She Refuses To Watch
The moment, which aired in "Grey’s Anatomy" Season 2, Episode 19, involved Meredith Grey rebounding with George, who had harbored feelings for her for years. But according to Pompeo, both she and Knight were deeply uncomfortable shooting it.
“T.R. and I are such good friends. And we had to do a love scene, and we were both crying. We cried. We cried,” Pompeo admitted to host Alex Cooper. “And the scene was so uncomfortable and awkward and he didn’t wanna do that. I didn’t wanna do it. And when we filmed it, it was so bad.”
Making matters worse, the network reportedly requested reshoots after deciding the scene had "too much thrusting."
“In your worst nightmare to have to do it one time, we had to re-shoot that sh-t,” Pompeo said.
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She also revealed that she had never watched the final cut. “We had to re-shoot it and do it twice. By the way, I’ve never watched that scene. I’ve never seen it," she added. "But I don’t know how it was shot or covered or what the end, how it was edited, but I’m full on in tears, the whole entire scene. And those are real tears.”
The scene ultimately ends with Meredith realizing she made a mistake and breaking down in tears while asking George if they could go back to being friends.
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Pompeo Recalls Her Most Emotional Goodbye
Pompeo also touched on the "Grey"’s character death that impacted her the most, which as George’s tragic demise at the end of Season 5.
In one of the show’s most heartbreaking moments, George is hit by a bus while saving a woman and arrives at the hospital unrecognizable due to his injuries. His identity is only discovered when he traces “007," his nickname, on Meredith’s hand.
Another tough farewell was the departure of Sandra Oh, who played Cristina Yang. Pompeo called her co-star’s last day “really emotional.”
“She was such a loss because she’s so immensely talented, and I really didn’t think the show could go on without her,” Pompeo admitted. “It literally felt like half of the show just leaving.”
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‘Pick Me, Choose Me, Love Me,' But Would Ellen Pompeo Do It Again?
One of "Grey’s Anatomy"'s most famous lines was almost not delivered by Pompeo, who admitted she pushed back against Meredith’s now-iconic speech begging Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) to choose her over his wife.
“Girl. Bye,” she quipped when asked what advice she’d give Meredith in that moment.
“I didn’t wanna say, ‘Pick me, choose me, love me.’ You know, and to [Shonda Rhimes’] credit, like, she knew that was gonna pop,” she added. “I was like, ‘Why would I do this? Why would I beg, why would I?’ And you know, you have to just suck it up and do it.”
Of course, the moment became one of the most defining scenes of the series. “It ended up being, you know, the biggest thing ever,” Pompeo admitted.
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Pay Disparity And Harassment: The Challenges Of Fame
Beyond awkward love scenes and emotional farewells, Pompeo also touched on how fame affected her personal life, including the bias and racist backlash her husband, Chris Ivery, experienced.
“The media was really mean to him and really biased because how dare this skinny, blonde, petite little woman be with this tall Black man? The visual of that, I think America wasn’t ready for that,” she said, revealing that ABC even received hate mail over their relationship.
She also addressed the early pay gap between her and Dempsey, confirming he initially made nearly twice her salary.
“To be completely fair, the television game was so different then, and he had done like 13 pilots before me,” she explained. “That was my first pilot I’d ever done... Nothing personal to him, but just in general, only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote still keeps going up.”
While she acknowledged that Dempsey was a bigger star at the time, she said the real issue was that ABC didn’t “value [her] as much as they valued him.”
“They never will,” she added bluntly.
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What’s Next For Ellen Pompeo?
After stepping back from "Grey’s Anatomy" as a series regular in 2023, Pompeo is now leading Hulu’s upcoming limited series "Good American Family," set to debut on March 19.
She stars as Kristine Barnett, the adoptive mother of Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan accused of faking her age in a real-life case that shocked the nation.