Fifteen seasons deep - and another two to come - Ellen Pompeo is still the queen of Grey’s Anatomy. Pompeo stars as Meredith Grey, and in Variety’s Actors on Actors interview with Taraji P. Henson, she tells Henson that this was her first ever leading role in a movie or show. Despite the glory of the lead title, Pompeo admits she almost left the show in its early days.
Without revealing too much, she tells Henson there was a “serious [behind-the-scenes] culture problem” that triggered her desire to leave. She explained saying, “I would say the first 10 years we had serious, serious culture issues. Very bad behavior. A really toxic work environment.”
Pompeo tolerated the toxic environment for one reason: her daughter. She gave birth to her first child during season six and realized she had more to work for now that she was caring for another human being. “I had someone other than myself to think about,” Pompeo told Henson. “I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, at 40 years old, where am I ever gonna get this kind of money? And I need to take care of my kid, so I’m gonna stay.'"
Once she made the decision to stay, she decided to take the reigns and create the work environment that she wanted. “I would say we had some big shifts, in front of the camera, behind the camera, and then it became my goal to turn that set around,” Pompeo said. “[I wanted] to have an experience there that I could be happy about and proud about...My mission became that this can’t be all this show was: fantastic to the public and a disaster behind the scenes.”
She started seeing her goal take effect after season 10 when she and the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes decided to focus on “a new chapter.” With Debbie Allen hired on as executive producer, she, Pompeo and Rhimes spent the last five seasons rebuilding Grey’s Anatomy to eliminate that “toxic” environment. Pompeo admits that’s what’s kept her on the show - and with at least two more seasons to go, Grey's fans are certainly happy she's still there.
