'Grey's Anatomy' star Ellen Pompeo Discusses Isaiah Washington and Katherine Heigl's exits
Ellen Pompeo revealed that she did not want Isaiah Washington as her love interest on Grey's Anatomy and that Katherine Heigl's exit on the show made it tough, E! News reported Monday.
Pompeo has played Meredith Grey on the hit ABC drama since the show's inception in March 2005. She told the New York Post about being fortunate for the role that changed her life. The actress never felt any inclination to leave as her star rose for greater fame and fortune.
"Actors always think the grass is greener somewhere else. I didn't want to do that," Pompeo said.
The narrator for Grey's said that she had a great life and it was all due to the long running drama.
"I have a house five minutes from the studio, I have a house in the Hamptons, a house in Malibu, a beautiful daughter whom I see every night, and it's all because I didn't leaveGrey's Anatomy," she said.
However, the 43-year-old did have some reservations. She did not want Washington to play her love interest as the subject matter hit too close to home. In real life, she is married to an African American producer, Chris Ivery.
"Shonda [Rhimes] really wanted to put a black man in the mix. I didn't think they were really going to put an interracial couple on the show and I didn't want him," she said.
Washington was fired from the show during the fourth season and Heigl left as well on her own accord to focus on her movie career. Pompeo hinted that Heigl made wrong choices that have hampered her career."When Katie left, it was tough," she said. "You could understand why she wanted to go - when you're offered $12 million a movie and you're only 26. But Katie's problem is that she should not have renewed her contract. She re-upped, took a big raise and then tried to get off the show. And then her movie career did not take off."