Ellen Pompeo describes ‘toxic’ environment on Grey’s Anatomy

Ellen Pompeo has lifted the lid on the “very bad behaviour” of her Grey’s Anatomy castmates, admitting she wanted to quit many times.

Ellen Pompeo says the culture behind the scenes on Grey’s Anatomy, which is in its 14th year on the air, was “toxic” for the first decade of the series.

“The first 10 years we had serious culture issues, very bad behaviour, really toxic work environment,” the 49-year-old actress explained in a new Variety interview.

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The original Grey’s cast in 2005.

When asked if there was ever a moment she wanted to leave the show, she said, “There were many moments. It’s funny: I never wanted off the bus in the year that I could get off.”

Pompeo, who has three children, said that once she became a mother, she realised she needed to provide for her family.

“It became no longer about me,” she said. “At 40 years old, where am I ever going to get this kind of money? I need to take care of my kids.”

Sandra Oh and Ellen Pompeo. Picture: ABC/Peter 'Hopper' Stone

A fair share of the show’s drama was reported in the press over the years, including Isaiah Washington’s abrupt exit in 2007 after using a homophobic slur while fighting with Patrick Dempsey on set, and Katherine Heigl withdrawing from the 2008 Emmy race because she didn’t feel like her storyline “warranted an Emmy nomination.”

When T.R. Knight left in 2009, he told Entertainment Weekly, he and creator Shonda Rhimes had a “gradual breakdown of communication”.

Heigl exited in 2010 and by 2014, Rhimes told The Hollywood Reporter she has a “no Heigls” rule on the set of her other show, Scandal.

Katherine Heigl had a highly-publicised departure from the show.

“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 said. “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.”

She added that another of her missions was to prove to the network that the cast didn’t need a male lead after Dempsey left.

“I was on a double mission,” she explained.

Pompeo has been open about the fact that Dempsey always made more money than she did, despite her being the show’s titular character. After years of fighting for higher pay, she negotiated a US$10 million-per-year deal with the network.

This story originally appeared in the NY Post and is republished here with permission