Grey’s Anatomy: 10 Facts About Owen Hunt Many Fans Don’t Know

Owen Hunt is a controversial character on Grey’s Anatomy. Here is some trivia about the trauma surgeon from the long-running medical drama.

Owen Hunt was a trauma surgeon at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and has been a part of Grey’s Anatomy for many years. He served as Cristina Yang’s main love interest during her time on the series but he was so much more than just a romantic partner. Owen has been a part of many important storylines, most notably his ongoing struggle with PTSD.

Owen is an extremely talented doctor, but he is a very divisive character on the show. He is friendly and generally fun to be around, but he can also be jealous, petty and spiteful. Despite all that we know about Owen, though, there are still many more facts to be discovered.

He Has Been Engaged 3 Times

Owen is quite a simple man if you think about it. He doesn’t want to be the best in his field (although his surgical skills are very impressive); he just wants to save as many lives as possible. This is a particularly admirable quality. Owen also wants to find someone to settle down and start a family with, but this is easier said than done.

He had a fiancé named Beth, but he broke up with her shortly after his return. He then got engaged to and married Cristina Yang, but they later divorced due to irreconcilable differences. Owen then met Amelia Shepherd and after a short dating period, they too got engaged and got married. This also didn’t last very long.

He Served In The Army Before Working At Seattle Grace Hospital

When Owen first arrived at Grey Sloan, he had been caught up in a traffic collision but hadn’t been too badly injured so he helped the other doctors treat the more critical patients. At this time in his life, Owen was about to go off with the army. When he returned, however, he was a different man.

Scarred by his experiences in the field, Owen struggled to cope with normality at first, suffering from severe PTSD-induced episodes. Owen’s status as a former army medic allowed Grey’s Anatomy to cover new ground and explore the reality of living with PTSD. For that, he should be commended.

Owen Has Two Children

Owen has always wanted to be a father, and he made that clear way back when he and Cristina were still together. A father is a beautiful thing to want to be, but unfortunately, it hasn’t always brought the best out in Owen. In fairness, neither Cristina nor Amelia wanted children, breaking Owen’s heart, but he should have handled it a lot better than he did.

However, in Season 14, Owen’s dreams of fatherhood finally became a reality when he applied to be a foster parent and became Leo’s carer. Owen loves Leo, and it was nice to see his paternal side, for a brief moment at least. Happily, Owen then became a father to two after it was revealed that Teddy was pregnant with his baby, Allison.

He Tried To Fire His Best Friend

Like we said before, Owen is basically a good man, but one who does many terrible things. Sometimes, these acts are so that others close to him won’t get hurt. And other times, they’re done because they inconvenience him personally. We weren’t joking when we said he was a deeply flawed character.

During this point in the series, Owen was caught up in a love triangle with Cristina and Teddy. He was with the former at the time, but had feelings for the latter. In order to make sure he didn’t mess things up in his relationship, Owen tried to get Teddy fired so that he couldn’t be tempted by her in person. Smooth.

His Sister Was Presumed Dead For Several Years

The fact that Owen has a sister was revealed in Season 12 of Grey’s Anatomy. During this season, new character Nathan Riggs really seemed to rub Owen up the wrong way. Owen was a complete ass towards Riggs for most of the season and no one could figure out why he was being such a jerk.

However, it was revealed that Riggs had been dating Megan, Owen’s sister, when she went missing, presumed dead. To make matters worse, Riggs had cheated on Megan and then proposed using his hook-up’s discarded jewelry. Despite the setbacks, both Owen and Riggs reunited with an alive Megan in Season 14.

Kevin McKidd Is Actually Scottish

You wouldn’t know it to hear Owen in Grey’s Anatomy, but the actor who plays him is Scottish. Kevin McKidd has to put on an American accent to play the role of Owen but we have got to give him credit ⁠— it sounds completely authentic.

Apparently, when he first joined the main cast of the medical drama, McKidd had an accent coach to help him with the American dialect, but considering how long he has been putting on that accent for, it is still an extremely impressive accomplishment.

Owen Cheated On Cristina

Owen and Cristina had a much more healthy relationship than the latter’s with Preston Burke. However, that didn’t stop the couple from having many ups and downs during their time together. When they were happy, it was glorious to watch and you could tell that they loved each other very much.

However, when they were upset with each other, it was just miserable. In Season 8, Cristina aborted her and Owen’s baby, and Owen struggled deeply with that. Despite him loving his wife, Owen just couldn’t forgive her and so he slept with someone else who he met in a bar. It’s a tough situation, but you can’t just run when the going gets tough.

Owen’s Dad Died When He Was 10

Keeping in line with the tradition of all Grey Sloan Memorial doctors having absolutely tragic backstories, Owen’s dad died when he was only 10. It’s a horrible age to lose a parent (not that there’s any right age, of course), just because children are so innocent and happy and shouldn’t have to even think about death at that time in their lives.

In Season 15, Owen realized that his dad’s death had affected him more than he realized as he came to the conclusion that it was one of the reasons that stopped him from being truly happy. He was worried that if he was happy, something bad would come along and take his happiness away. That’s a lot for anyone to handle.

He Tried To Strangle Cristina

Owen’s PTSD is one the more serious cases seen on television. His experience in the field definitely traumatized him more than even he likes to admit and Grey’s Anatomy has done an admirable job of portraying this on screen. Owen’s PTSD was especially bad in Seasons 5 and 6, with it occasionally resurfacing throughout the series.

One of the worst cases of this, and one of the the most harrowing scenes to watch in Grey’s Anatomy history, was when Cristina and Owen went to sleep together. In the middle of the night, Owen started choking Cristina while in some sort of trance. Cristina could have been killed, had it not been for Callie waking Owen up.

He Is The Third Longest-Running Male Cast Member

It seems weird to think now that there was four whole seasons of Grey’s Anatomy that didn’t feature Owen Hunt at all. Owen has been part of the main ensemble of characters since Season 5, which aired all the way back in 2008.

That means that Owen is the third longest-running male cast member on the show. Ahead of him are Richard Webber and Alex Karev, who have been part of Grey’s Anatomy since the show began. Owen managed to beat many strong contenders for this spot, including Derek Shepherd (11 seasons) and Jackson Avery (10 and a half seasons).