‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Cast Members Overjoyed With Ellen Pompeo’s Exit, Sources Say She ‘Rubbed A Lot Of People The Wrong Way’
Cast members of Grey’s Anatomy have privately expressed their joy after pompous star, Ellen Pompeo, quit acting due to burnout, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The departure of the 52-year-old actress — who played Dr. Meredith Grey for 19 seasons — relieves a big pain in the neck on the set, sources said.
“She has a colossal ego and was constantly throwing her weight around when it came to other people’s performances and storylines,” said an insider. “Some people called her a tyrant and they’re glad they won’t be seeing her around anymore.”
Ellen, who shares kids Stella, 13, Sienna, 8, and Eli, 6, with husband Chris Ivery, 56, was pulling in an estimated $550,000 per episode, making her TV’s highest-paid actress. But the big bucks apparently weren’t worth the inconveniences of an acting career.
“Sitting around in trailers, traveling around, shooting this in Atlanta, shooting that in Vancouver,” she whined. “I have no desire to go sit in trailers at 11 o’clock at night and wait to shoot scenes and have ADs [assistant directors] knock on my door and tell me when I can eat lunch!”
Ellen was a relatively unknown actress when she started on the show, but she grew to stardom alongside former castmates Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey.
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“She became overbearing,” said a source. “That rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, from the production assistants all the way up to her co-stars. Truthfully, no one will miss her.”
Earlier this month, Pompeo spoke to Drew Barrymore about her exit. She said, "I feel super happy, but listen, the show has been incredible to me and I’ve loved a lot of the experience. Listen, it’s just, I gotta mix it up a little bit."
"I’m 53. My brain is like scrambled eggs," the actress continued. "I gotta do something new or I’m literally gonna turn into like, you can’t do the New York Times crossword puzzle every single day. I mean, 19 years, that’s more than people keep their kids in their house, like people keep their kids in their house until they’re 18 and then they send them off to college. So this is like me like going away to college."'