Ellen Pompeo Says She Might Not Continue Acting After 'Grey's Anatomy'
Saying goodbye to Dr. Meredith Grey may also mean saying goodbye to seeing Ellen Pompeo on our screens.
The 51-year-old appeared on the "Ladies First with Laura Brown" podcast on the July 27 episode and admitted that Grey's Anatomy could be her last acting gig.
"I'm not saying I'll never act again, I very well may, but I'm not super excited about continuing my acting career," Pompeo revealed.
"The acting, even though I haven't done a million different roles, I feel like I've done it," the Golden Globe nominee explained. "Sitting around in trailers, traveling around, shooting this in Atlanta, shooting that in Vancouver. I have no desire to go sit in trailers at 11 o'clock at night and wait to shoot scenes and have ADs knock on my door and tell me when I can eat lunch. You know, it's for the young at heart. It's for the youth!"
As for what would come after Grey's Anatomy, the Old School actress said that she is "more entrepreneurial at this stage," and is "excited about investing in businesses, and starting business. That's an area of growth that I'm excited about, using my brain in a different way."
She will also be entering the podcast world, having announced "Tell Me with Ellen Pompeo" earlier this year. "[I thought], 'Let me go out there and do something I've never done before and try something completely different for absolutely no other reason than to try something different because I haven't for so long,'" the Station 19 actress said on the podcast. "If it fails, it fails, but at least I'm trying something new."
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Meanwhile, this is not the first time Pompeo has expressed uncertainty about her future on Grey's Anatomy — or her career. Before the medical drama was renewed for season 18 in May, she previously told Variety that "this year could be it" ahead of the season 17 finale.
In 2018, Pompeo told Entertainment Weekly that she wasn't going to make an official announcement about her future on Grey's Anatomy, but felt they had "told the majority of the stories that we can tell." She later admitted on Spotify’s "Jemele Hill Is Unbothered" podcast last year that she "made a decision to make money," having negotiated a $20 million salary.
"For me, personally, a healthy home life was more important than career," the actress said at the time. "I didn’t grow up with a particularly happy childhood. So the idea that I have this great husband and these three beautiful children [and] a happy home life was really something I needed to complete."
Earlier this year, an OK! insider said that Pompeo will "weigh her options" before returning for another season. "She's pushing to get a raise from her current $20 million to $25 million a year," the insider explained, noting Pompeo has the upper hand because "network execs are concerned the series can't bounce back without re-signing her."
Pompeo tied the knot with Chris Ivery in 2007 and the couple shares children Stella, 11, Sienna, 6, and Eli, 4.
