Ellen Pompeo has provided context regarding one of her most famous lines from “Grey’s Anatomy.” In the latest episode of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, the 55-year-old actress discussed her character Meredith Grey’s plea to Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey) to leave his wife in a 2005 episode of the ABC medical drama. Pompeo shared, “There was a lot of stuff that I didn’t wanna do at the time. I didn’t wanna say, ‘Pick me, choose me, love me.'” However, the “Daredevil” star revealed that “Grey’s Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes understood the line’s potential resonance with the audience, saying, “she knew that was gonna pop.” “I was like, ‘Why would I do this? Why would I beg, why would I?’ And you know, you have to just suck it up and do it. And it ended up being, you know, the biggest thing ever, the most iconic thing ever. So, I’m not always the best judge of, you know, what’s gonna [work],” she recalled. Notably, this is not the first time Ellen Pompeo has expressed her dislike for the line. In 2023, she spoke with Katherine Heigl for Variety’s Actors on Actors series and said, “I fought that speech so hard.” “That’s another really interesting thing about life. Some things that I was so against — I was like ‘Why would I beg a man? I can’t beg a man on TV, this is so embarrassing.’ And then it turns out to be, like, one of the most successful scenes,” the “Good American Family” star said. “In the scene, I’m crying, but I’m really crying because I have to beg a man on television,” Ellen Pompeo stated.
