Ellen Pompeo has raised eyebrows with her “weird” reasoning for why she’ll never fully leave Grey’s Anatomy.
The actor, who plays Meredith Grey on the long-running medical drama, left as a full-time cast member in season 19, which aired in 2022.
However, Pompeo still participates in episodes, appearing in voiceover form – and she has now revealed why she didn’t completely exit the series.
According to Pompeo, it “would make no sense” for her to quit the show “emotionally or financially”.
“The show was streamed more than a billion times in 2024 – more than a billion times,” she told El País, adding: “The companies that own the show and stream the show make a lot of money from our images and our voices and our faces.”
She added: “If I were to walk away completely, everybody gets to make money from my hard work for 20 years and I wouldn’t make any money.
“To me, it doesn’t make any sense that everybody [else] gets to profit off of my hard work. And emotionally, the show means a lot to people. I want to have an attitude of gratitude toward the show.”
Fans of the show are reacting to Pompeo’s remarks, with many deeming her reasoning to be slightly too honest – especially considering the many people involved in making the show, which premiered in 2005, a hit.
“Refusing to move on from a show because you don’t want others to continue to make money after you’ve left is a weird thing to say on a show with maaaaany more people involved than just you,” one person wrote.
Another said on X/Twitter: “Nah this seems a bit weird like yes a lot of it is down to her but the show took more than just her hard work… co-stars, producers, directors, writers, editors etc.”
Echoing this sentiment, an additional fan stated: “I get that the show is named after her character but she is FAR from the only one who built that show into what it became.”
However, others said they “respected” her for knowing her worth.
“Unfortunately gotta respect the frankness of this statement – like at this point it’s just straight up about the obscene amount of money that this show still rakes in for ABC,” one person pointed out, with another stating: “Basically she wants all the coins. At least she didn’t try to sugarcoat her answer like others would have and do.”
Pompeo can currently be seen in Good American Family, a limited drama from showrunner Kate Robbins that airs on Disney+ in the UK.
