- Ellen Pompeo said Grey's Anatomy made her think she was "no good" without Patrick Dempsey on the show.
- Ellen said when he left, she was relieved because the show couldn't use his presence against her anymore.
Ellen Pompeo is always so real about her time on Grey's Anatomy. Earlier this month she admitted she probably would've left the show if she were younger, and she just opened up about how she felt empowered after Patrick Dempsey left the show.
READ: 'Grey's Anatomy' Actor Ellen Pompeo's Net Worth Is So, So Huge
Ellen previously said that while Patrick was on the show, they would "always use him as leverage against me—‘We don’t need you; we have Patrick’—which they did for years." She added, "I don’t know if they also did that to him, because he and I never discussed our deals. There were many times where I reached out about joining together to negotiate, but he was never interested in that."
READ: Sandra Oh Revealed She Used To Fight With ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Writers And Shonda Rhimes
So when Patrick eventually left, Ellen said she felt like she "had something to prove." Talking to Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast, she explained, "They had put that in my head for so long, that I was no good without him." But instead of letting that discourage her, Ellen said, "I had to rewrite the ending of that story and, say, well, ‘Who’s right? Am I actually good without him?’ I had to take over that script and rewrite that story and prove to myself that they were wrong."
She continued:
"I was just so beat down and meant to feel like they could do the show without me. Patrick Dempsey leaving the show was that for me. I was like, oh, I have a window here, now how are they going to tell me they don’t need me? You don’t have him, so you can’t use him against me."
It's terrible the show made her feel like that and used Patrick against her for so long, but major props to Ellen for standing up for herself and not settling for less.
And when it comes to her future on the show, Ellen, who is one of TV's highest-earning actresses, said she's "definitely not going to go forever" but is happy for now.
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This article originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.com. Minor edits have been made by the Cosmo.ph editors.
