ENTERTAINMENTEllen Pompeo Says She's Been 'Dying' to Do 'Something Else' for Years as She Gushes Over Her Role in 'Good American Family'
After two decades on 'Grey’s Anatomy,' Ellen Pompeo takes a bold leap into 'Good American Family.'
April 10 2025, Published 7:05 p.m. ET
After two decades of portraying the iconic Dr. Meredith Grey, Ellen Pompeo steps into uncharted territory with a new role in the limited series, Good American Family, and she couldn’t be more excited!
"I've been dying for something else to do for years," she declared in a candid interview with The New York Times.
"I’ve always wanted another opportunity. I finally have it. Yes, it’s scary. It might be the craziest, dumbest thing. But I’m going to trust in the universe," she added.
Ellen Pompeo has appeared on 'Grey's Anatomy' for many years.
From her humble beginnings in a working-class neighborhood north of Boston to losing her mother to an accidental drug overdose at just 4 years old, fate was a guiding force in Pompeo’s life. She ventured into modeling, but the spotlight wasn’t quite ready for her. "I had too many opinions," she shared. "And I was too short to become a runway superstar."
When Grey’s Anatomy swept in during her struggling years, Pompeo was at a crossroads — desperate for rent but longing for the silver screen. The role catapulted her career, yet it came with a hefty price: the show sidelined her from pursuing other passions.
The star shares three kids with her husband, Chris Ivery.
At 55, Pompeo is at peace with the fact that she might never don the level of Hollywood glamour as Julia Roberts, but she counts her blessings. "In 2018, I became TV’s highest-paid woman earning $20 million a season," she reflected, a testament to the financial stability that Grey's has afforded her. This allowed her to stay close to home while raising three kids with husband Chris Ivery.
"My 15-year-old has seen it [Grey’s Anatomy] and now my 10-year-old wants to see it," she revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. "I don’t want my daughter to see me in my underwear on television just yet."
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Ellen Pompeo and husband, Chris Ivery, have been together long before she got cast as Meredith Grey.
Ivery, her partner since before Grey's exploded into a phenomenon, hasn’t watched much of the show either. The couple, who crossed paths in an L.A. grocery store in 2003 and married in 2007, live in their own private reality. "I just think we were on this crazy ride that, we were just trying to hang on for dear life," she revealed on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.
Pompeo has flirted with the idea of walking away from Meredith for good. Currently, in Season 21, she dramatically cut back her episodes but remains the series’ narrator and a producer, admitting she "couldn’t keep going."
While 'Grey’s Anatomy' gave Ellen Pompeo her biggest break, it came at the price of missing other opportunities.
Yet this decreased commitment paved the way for her new venture in Good American Family. Pompeo is hopeful that this is just the beginning of many exciting projects ahead — all without the confines of hospital scrubs!
"I’m a big believer in destiny," she stated passionately. "I thought, if there’s something else I’m meant to do, it’s gonna find me."
