‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Behind-the-Scenes Drama: A Timeline
Grey’s Anatomy has captivated audiences since its March 2005 premiere, but sometimes, what was going on behind-the-scenes of the series was more dramatic than what went down in the fictional hallways of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.
“I do my best and we all do our best. It’s actually, the journey of it has been quite interesting because obviously we’ve had our ups and downs behind the scenes,” series star Ellen Pompeo admitted on Late Night With Seth Meyers in November 2017.
She added: “It’s been a very interesting journey. … It started out one way and right now where we are in such a different place from where we started.”
The medical drama first made headlines back in October 2006 after reports surfaced that Isaiah Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, used a homophobic slur on set. As the series continued to gain popularity over the next decade, fans searched for the truth behind the various cast shake-ups and killed-off characters.
Past drama from the set made headlines again in September 2021 following the release of Lynette Rice’s How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy. One of the points of contention explored was the cast’s relationships with Patrick Dempsey.
“There were times where Ellen was frustrated with Patrick and she would get angry that he wasn’t working as much,” producer Jeannine Renshaw recalled in the book. “She was very big on having things be fair. She just didn’t like that Patrick would complain that ‘I’m here too late’ or ‘I’ve been here too long’ when she had twice as many scenes in the episode as he did. When I brought it up to Patrick, I would say, ‘Look around you. These people have been here since 6:30 a.m.’ He would go, ‘Oh, yeah.’ He would get it. It’s just that actors tend to see things from their own perspective. He’s like a kid.”
The actor behind Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd was allegedly the cause of some “HR issues” too, according to producer James D. Parriott.
“It wasn’t sexual in any way. He sort of was terrorizing the set,” he claimed of the actor. “Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him. He had this hold on the set where he knew he could stop production and scare people. The network and studio came down and we had sessions with them. I think he was just done with the show. He didn’t like the inconvenience of coming in every day and working. He and Shonda [Rhimes] were at each other’s throats.”
Scroll through for a complete timeline of the behind-the-scenes drama on the ABC hit:
Pre-2005
Before Grey’s Anatomy even premiered in 2005, there was casting drama, according to Washington.
“I originally went in to be Derek Shepherd, a brain surgeon. I was paid $10,000 not to take the audition. Or do any television. I took the money,” Washington claimed during an October 2021 radio interview. “I got called back, read with Ellen Pompeo. She made the executive decision [not to hire me] because she had a Black boyfriend, she didn’t feel comfortable. Now she said that to me at catering once I was actually on the show as Dr. Burke. I was passed over, it was over.”
(Pompeo previously told the New York Post in 2013 that she felt a Black man playing Derek was “too close to home” amid her romance with now-husband Chris Ivery.)
October 2006
Reports surfaced in October 2006 that there was drama on set between Washington and Dempsey. While Katherine Heigl downplayed the incident on The Ellen DeGenres show at the time — referring to it as “a little burst of testosterone in the room” — other reports claimed that Washington used a homophobic slur during the argument with Dempsey.
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January 2007
In January 2007, T.R. Knight revealed that hearing Washington use the word “f—-t” during the aforementioned fight with Dempsey gave him the courage to come out as gay. Backstage at the Golden Globes that same month, however, Washington denied using the word, which sparked outrage from Heigl, who told Access Hollywood that Washington “needs to just not speak in public, period.”
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June 2007
Months after the scandal, it was announced that Washington would not return to Grey’s Anatomy for season 4. In a statement to USA Today in June 2007, the actor said he was “mad as hell” and “not going to take it anymore.”
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July 2007
A month after he was fired, Washington opened about the incident, blaming Dempsey’s alleged lateness as the cause of their disagreement and the reason he subsequently used the slur. “I said, ‘I don’t need Ellen, I can act,’” Washington recalled on Larry King Live in July 2007, referring to Pompeo. “And that was the moment that sent it into a different zone. [Dempsey] became unhinged, sprayed spittle in my face. … I said several bad words. ‘There’s no way you’re going to treat me like the B-word, the P-word or the F-word.’”
He added: “I am not homophobic – in no way, shape or form.”
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June 2008
A year after Heigl won an Emmy for her portrayal of Izzie Stevens, the actress withdrew herself from the 2008 race because she didn’t believe her storylines warranted a nomination. “I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention,” she said in a statement in June 2008. “In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.”
Weeks later, series creator Rhimes claimed during a TV panel that she wrote “the back half [of season 4] light for Katherine so she could do her movie.”
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July 2009
After five seasons, Knight announced that was leaving the medical drama. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly in July 2009, the actor said that he and Rhimes had a “gradual breakdown of communication” over the years. “My five-year experience proved to me that I could not trust any answer that was given [about George],” he said. “And with respect, I’m going to leave it at that.”
Knight also alleged during the interview that Rhimes was “concerned” about him coming out “so close” to Washington’s headline-making slur.
Rhimes denied his claim: “I said, ‘If you want to come out, that’s awesome. We’ll totally support that.’ And then he went away, thought about it, and came back and said, ‘I’m going to make this statement.’ I remember saying to [executive producer] Betsy Beers, ‘This is our proudest day here. T.R. got to come out, and I got to say to him that it wouldn’t affect his character’ — because he was concerned that he was going to come out and George would suddenly be gay. I was like, ‘We are not going to do that.’ The idea that a gay actor can’t play a straight man is insulting.”
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March 2010
Less than two years after Heigl withdrew herself from the Emmy race, she exited Grey’s Anatomy during the show’s sixth season. “I’m done. We just finalized our agreement,” she told Entertainment Weekly in March 2010. “Everyone had been working really hard to find an amicable and gracious way of letting go and moving on. It’s sad but it’s what I wanted.” The actress also noted to the magazine at the time that she wanted to spend more time with her then 16-month-old daughter, Naleigh, and not “work full-time.”
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December 2012
Rhimes, who was also the showrunner of Scandal and Private Practice, threw shade at Heigl two years after her departure. “On some level, it stung and on some level I was not surprised,” the writer told TV Guide in December 2012. “When people show you who they are, believe them.”
October 2013
Pompeo acknowledged the behind-the-scenes drama during an interview with the New York Post in October 2013. “Hurt feelings, combined with instant success and huge paychecks started things spinning out of control,” she said at the time. “The crazier things got, as I watched all the tumult with Isaiah and then the Katie thing, I started to focus on the work. Maybe it’s my Boston, blue-collar upbringing … I just tried to not pay attention to all the noise around me.”
“It was tough,” Pompeo continued about Heigl. “You could understand why she wanted to go — when you’re offered $12 million a movie and you’re only 26. But Katie’s problem is that she should not have renewed her contract. She re-upped, took a big raise and then tried to get off the show. And then her movie career did not take off.”
May 2014
Rhimes defended her decision to bring back Washington for Oh’s last episode during season 10.
“My first decision and my first responsibility is to the story. I have to be the keeper of the story and make sure that we’re telling the story we need to tell, regardless of whatever outside factors are involved or whatever history is involved and, frankly, Sandra was so lovely and open to it. It has been a really kind of amazing experience,” she told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “I also want to just be clear that Isaiah is a person that we all love and have loved for a very long time. I feel like there have been a lot of people that have been like, ‘How can you do this?’ And I feel very strongly and fully believe in people’s ability to grow and change and learn from their mistakes and when they know better, to do better. If people don’t think that, over the course of seven years, it’s possible for a human being to change, then there really is no future for the human race at all.”
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October 2014
Rhimes infamously told The Hollywood Reporter about her “no Heigls” on set policy in October 2014: “I don’t put up with bulls—t or nasty people. I don’t have time for it.”
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November 2014
A month later, Heigl responded to Rhimes’ remarks during an appearance on Extra. “I’m sorry that she feels that way, and I wish her nothing but greatness, and I have nothing negative to say about Shonda. I’m a big fan of her work,” she said in November 2014. “I watch Scandal every week. I’m sorry she’s left with such a crappy impression of me. I wish I could do something to change that. Maybe I will be able to someday.”
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April 2015
News that Dempsey was leaving Grey’s Anatomy leaked hours before his final episode aired in April 2015 after an Entertainment Weekly cover about his exit — his character met a tragic end — arrived a day early for many subscribers.
Producer Renshaw said Rhimes was the one who made the ultimate decision to kick off McDreamy amid Dempsey’s alleged on set drama.
“A lot of the complaining … I think Shonda finally witnessed it herself, and that was the final straw,” he claimed in the book. “Shonda had to say to the network, ‘If he doesn’t go, I go.’ Nobody wanted him to leave, because he was the show. He and Ellen. Patrick is a sweetheart. It messes you up, this business.”
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November 2015
After Rhimes admitted during a November 2015 appearance on The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore that she has killed off a character from one of her shows because didn’t personally like the actor, fans were convinced that was referring to Dempsey. (Rhimes never revealed who she was talking about.)
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December 2015
Dempsey responded to speculation that Rhimes was referring to him during a December 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly. “I think she loves being provocative and that’s fine for who she is,” he said at the time. “That gets people talking about all the stuff that she’s doing. She’s promoting a book. She’s promoting three shows. I think she knows how to deal with the media and what she needs to say to get the response that she’s looking for.”
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2016
Pompeo revealed during a 2021 episode of her “Tell Me” podcast that she argued with Denzel Washington when he directed a season 12 episode.
“He was like, ‘I’m the director. Don’t you tell [the other actor] what to do.’ And I was like, ‘Listen, motherf—ker, this is my show, this is my set. Who are you telling? Like, you barely know where the bathroom is,’” she recalled of the Oscar winner. “I have the utmost respect for him as an actor, as a director, as everything, but like, yo, we went at it one day. Working with Denzel was amazing. He went nuts on me.
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April 2016
Six years after the initial incident, Heigl admitted she shouldn’t have withdrawn herself from Emmy contention. “I didn’t feel good about my performance. There was a part of me that thought, because I had won the year before, that I needed juicy, dramatic, emotional material. And I just didn’t have that that season,” she said on The Howard Stern Show in April 2016. “I was treating it a little black and white and taking it a little personally, but I think there were 12 series regulars on that show, and everybody deserved their juicy, dramatic, emotional season.”
“I was really embarrassed. So, I went in to Shonda and said, ‘I’m so sorry. That was not cool. I should not have said that.’ And I shouldn’t have said anything publicly,” she continued. “But at the time, I didn’t think anybody would notice … I just quietly didn’t submit. Then it became a story, and then I felt obligated to make my statement. And … shut up, Katie. I should have been like, ‘It’s personal, whatever.'”
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January 2018
Pompeo claimed during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in January 2018 that she reached out to Dempsey during his time on the show to negotiate their contracts together. “For me, Patrick leaving the show [in 2015] was a defining moment, deal-wise. They could always use him as leverage against me — ‘We don’t need you; we have Patrick’ — which they did for years. I don’t know if they also did that to him, because he and I never discussed our deals,” she told the outlet. “There were many times where I reached out about joining together to negotiate, but he was never interested in that. At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Grey’s Anatomy and I’m Meredith Grey. They wouldn’t give it to me. And I could have walked away, so why didn’t I? It’s my show; I’m the number one. I’m sure I felt what a lot of these other actresses feel: Why should I walk away from a great part because of a guy? You feel conflicted but then you figure, ‘I’m not going to let a guy drive me out of my own house.’”
She is now the highest paid actress on TV.
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March 2018
Fans were shocked after ABC announced in March 2018 that Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw were not returning to the show for season 15. (Drew was on the series for nine seasons, while Capshaw appeared on 10.) An insider told Us at the time that a decision was made to “not renew their contracts” over creative changes. Both Drew and Capshaw made it clear via social media that neither of them wanted to leave the show.
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August 2018
Sara Ramirez left Grey’s Anatomy in 2016 after playing Dr. Callie Torres for 11 seasons. While Rhimes claimed in August 2018 that she invited Ramirez back to reprise her role for the season 14 finale, the Madam Secretary star told a different story. “Let me tell you something: we tried,” Rhimes said in an Instagram video to fans. “CBS has a hold of her because she’s on another show, and we can’t get her. But we love her. Always. This is her home. Come home, Callie.”
In September 2018, Ramirez tweeted: “For the record @CBS has been nothing but gracious and generous to me. They are open to Callie coming back! The ball is in @ABCNetwork ‘s court.”
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2018
According to Washington, Pompeo “took $5 million dollars under the table” amid the #MeToo movement “to not tell the world how toxic and nasty Patrick Dempsey really was.” (The actress never publicly reacted to the claims after Us reached out for comment.)
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December 2018
Pompeo made headlines in December 2018 after she revealed she hasn’t spoken to Dempsey since 2015. “We haven’t spoken since he’s left the show,” she said on Jada Smith’s Red Table Talk. “I have no hard feelings toward him, he’s a wonderful actor and we made, you know, the best TV you could make together.”
Two years later, Pompeo enlisted Dempsey to return for a season 17 dream sequence.
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June 2019
Pompeo revealed to Variety in June 2019 that she almost quit Grey’s Anatomy during the early seasons because of the on-set culture. “There were many moments. It’s funny: I never wanted off the bus in the year that I could get off. The first 10 years we had serious culture issues, very bad behavior, really toxic work environment,” Pompeo explained. “But once I started having kids, it became no longer about me. I need to provide for my family.”
The actress added that after season 10, which aired in 2014, there was “some big shifts in front of the camera” and “behind the camera.”
“It became my goal to have an experience there that I could be happy and proud about, because we had so much turmoil for 10 years,” Pompeo explained. “My mission became, this can’t be fantastic to the public and a disaster behind the scenes. Shonda Rhimes and I decided to rewrite the ending of this story. That’s what’s kept me.”
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January 2020
Justin Chambers announced in January 2020 he was leaving his role as Dr. Alex Karev after playing the part since season 1. In a statement, he thanked his fans and said it was time to “diversify [his] acting roles and career choices.” TVLine reported later that same day that Alex would not be getting an official sendoff in season 16 and that his final episode had already aired.
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November 2020
More than a decade after his exit, Washington reignited his feud with Heigl via Twitter.
“This woman once proclaimed that I should ‘never’ be allowed to speak publicly again. The world agreed with her proclamation back then and protested for my job and my head in 65 languages. I wish I was on Twitter in 2007, because I will NEVER stop exercising my free speech,” he tweeted alongside a photo of his former costar in November 2020.
In a reply to a social media user, Washington added, “Your opinions are your own, but you are a fool, a liberal and misguided feminist to even try and defend this woman. You weren’t there, so die on this hill, whoever you are. She could have cared less about her gay friend. Chandra Wilson knows all about that too.”
A source close to the 27 Dresses star told Us at the time that Heigl “stood up for her close friend twice when Isaiah publicly outed him and called him a f—–t. That’s hate talk, not free speech. She is proud that she stood up for him. Katherine is and always will be an advocate and ally to LGBTQ community.”
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April 2022
The 27 Dresses star has been vocal about her struggles on the set of the medical drama, which former costar Pompeo called “f—king ballsy” in April 2022.
“I remember Heigl said something on a talk show about the insane hours we were working — and she was 100 percent right,” Pompeo told show alum Kate Walsh on her “Tell Me” podcast. “Had she said that today, she’d be a complete hero. But she’s ahead of her time. [She] made a statement about our crazy hours and, of course, let’s slam a woman and call her ungrateful. … She was telling the truth. She wasn’t lying.”