Ellen Pompeo has been on Grey’s Anatomy since season one, episode one in March 2005. What else was happening that month? The Office premiered and Doctor Who returned; “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day was the number-one song in the country; and some YouTube star was born, probably. Point is, Pompeo has been playing Dr. Meredith Grey for a long time, but she’s finally ready to be discharged from the most drama-filled hospital since Cook County General Hospital.
Pompeo’s final episode of Grey’s Anatomy (at least as a full-time cast member) airs on February 23, 2023, and it sounds like it’s not a moment too soon for the actress. “The show has been incredible to me and I’ve loved a lot of the experience,” the “Bad Blood” music video star said on Tuesday’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show. But…
“Listen, it’s just I gotta mix it up a little bit. I’m 53, my brain is like scrambled eggs… I gotta do something new or I’m literally gonna turn into like, you can’t do the New York Times crossword puzzle every single day. I mean 19 years — that’s more than people keep their kids in their house, like people keep their kids in their house until they’re 18 and then they send them off to college.”
Pompeo added, “This is like me like going away to college,” except instead of having to give the college a lot of money, the college gave her A LOT of money.
You can watch The Drew Barrymore Show interview above.