This would have changed everything.
Shonda Rhimes – who created the long-running medical drama, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder – announced she was leaving ABC Studios last year to go create content for Netflix.
And while fans were quickly assured that the transition would be as smooth as possible, it turns out that Rhimes’ departure had a very big impact on the stars of Grey’s.
Or, at least, on Ellen Pompeo.
The actress recently admitted she began to question her future on the show after Rhimes departed.
She explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
“Did I want to be involved in the show if she wasn’t there?
“What did her move to Netflix mean? How present would she be or wouldn’t she be? So there was a lot of conversations.”
The 48-year-old actress also opened up about her recent decision to go public with her eight-figure paycheque, becoming the “20-million-dollar woman”.
She made the decision during an article in The Hollywood Reporter last month – and while she was nervous to talk about it at first, she said she is grateful for the way the story has been received.
She continued:
“I’m grateful that it was received in the way in which I intended it to be, which was as an empowering story for women and to also be very honest about my faults and my shortcomings.
“Because I think that there’s a lot of blame, especially right now. People are blaming people. There’s a lot of finger pointing, but there’s less people owning up to their side of things.
“And I wanted to sort of do a truthful interview and talk about my road to my own empowerment and how I got there, but also mistakes I’ve made along the way.”
During the interview last month, the Grey’s star encouraged women to ask for what they deserve – a point that she emphasised again on the chat show.
She explained:
“As women, you know, it’s not only about what’s done to us or what’s not given to us. It’s what don’t we ask for.
“You know, how much of it is [it] isn’t given to us, or is it that we don’t ask?
“I think that as much as we can point the finger at other people and [say], ‘You don’t give us or you don’t treat us fairly,’ We also have to point the finger at ourselves and say, ‘Did we ask? Did we step up and have the uh, gumption, to ask for what a man would?’
“We have to own part of it. And sometimes we’re too shy; we’re too afraid to be seen as difficult to really speak our mind.”
