NEWSEllen Pompeo Was 'Salty' About 'Grey's Anatomy' Costar Patrick Dempsey Earning Almost Double Before Actress' $20 Million Salary: 'They Didn't Value Me'
Ellen Pompeo's $20 million re-negotiated 'Grey's Anatomy' salary was revealed in 2018.
One would assume Meredith Grey was making more on Grey's Anatomy than Derek Shepherd — but that wasn't the case.
Ellen Pompeo, who starred as the main character of the hit drama series for nearly two decades, recalled what it was like trying to negotiate her salary to be as high as Patrick Dempsey, who played her love interest and costar on the show, during a guest appearance on the Wednesday, March 19, episode of Alex Cooper's "Call Her Daddy" podcast.
Ellen Pompeo appeared on the latest episode of Alex Cooper's 'Call Her Daddy' podcast.
"To be completely fair, the television game was so different then," Pompeo noted, explaining how Dempsey had already "done 13 pilots before me" and Grey's Anatomy was her "first" one.
The 55-year-old mentioned how actors would agree to a pilot with a set price that typically raised as they added more gigs to their resumes.
"Nothing personal to him but just in general, only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote still keeps going up," she snubbed. "But in all fairness, he was a bigger star than I was at that point."
"No one knew who I was, everybody knew who he was," Pompeo admitted. "He did deserve that money, I’m not saying he didn’t deserve that money. I was the namesake of the show. I deserved the same and that was harder to get."
Ellen Pompeo starred as Meredith Grey on 'Grey's Anatomy' for nearly two decades.
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The Good American Family actress clarified she "wasn't salty about" Dempsey receiving the salary he did, but she "was salty" Grey's Anatomy executives "didn't value me as much as they valued him and they never will."
Elsewhere in the interview, Pompeo recalled the moment she decided to ask for more money before news broke in 2018 that she successfully negotiated a $20 million salary for her Grey’s Anatomy role.
Patrick Dempsey was initially earning almost double the salary of his costar Ellen Pompeo.
"I am the Disney princess of that franchise. I have the data to back [it] up, I know the show generated this much money — I definitely deserve a percentage of that," she declared. "I advocate for women always fighting for themselves because most likely they are getting undervalued compared to what they’re offering men."
Pompeo said she made sure to inform the show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, about her plans to speak with the series' higher-ups for more pay.
Ellen Pompeo opened up about what it was like earning much less than her male costar.
"Being a woman, I guess I’m conditioned to make sure that I’m not stepping on anybody’s toes and I’m being polite," the Old School actress shared. "I asked Shonda first — she doesn’t really have much to do with that stuff, it’s business affairs and whatever — but I said to her, 'I’m going to go in and ask for this much, are you cool with that?'"
She added: "Just because I don’t want to be disrespectful to her, I don’t want to come off crazy and I want to let her know what moves I’m making because I do respect her. I am grateful to her."
Looking back, Pompeo is "not even mad" about having to climb her way up to financial success alongside an already prosperous man — and encouraged others to not be afraid to do the same.
"Go ahead, get next to him and use him to level up. Just step right on him and just level up. Don’t stay under him," Pompeo advised. "Do what you have to do, girl. Use him, get right next to him, pick his pockets and keep it moving. It’s OK. I’m not mad at any woman who does whatever she can to get where she needs to go. Just get there and keep it moving."
