Pompeo, who stars as the titular character Meredith Grey in ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ revealed that her daughter Stella stopped watching the series because of one scene
Ellen Pompeo is revealing why her daughter was left heartbroken by Grey’s Anatomy.
The actress, 55, stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show on Wednesday, April 2, where she opened up about what her family thinks of the hit medical drama, in which she stars as Meredith Grey. Sharing that her husband of 18 years Chris Ivery has never even seen it, Pompeo admitted her 15-year-old daughter Stella used to be a fan.
“It gets to a point where they get to be 10 or 11 and all the classmates start watching it and she says ‘Mommy, can I watch it?’” she explained. “And I can’t believe it sometimes.”
She and Stella watched “a few seasons” until one scene left her too distraught to keep going.
“I think she had it, and a lot of people do, when they see 007,” Pompeo recalled, referring to the death of T.R. Knight’s George O’Malley, who entered the hospital as an unknown patient before revealing himself by tracing ‘007’ on Meredith’s palm.
“When they see that George O’Malley died, they say, ‘I’m done, I just can’t do it anymore,’” she continued. “So I think she made it as far as that.”
In February, Pompeo, who also shares daughter Sienna, 10, and Eli, 8, with Ivery, told PEOPLE that she and Stella both got emotional when the episode unveiled George’s identity.
“She literally cried,” the Good American Family star said. “I had to film it and I couldn’t hold it together.”
Pompeo added that her 10-year-old daughter Sienna has recently sparked an interest in the show as well.
“I still think there’s a lot of inappropriate stuff that 10-year-olds should not be seeing,” Pompeo said. “So no judgment on other parents, but I just don’t want to answer questions. I get some weird questions because I was in the scene. ‘So, why are your panties on the bulletin board?’ Really don’t want to talk about that right now.”
The season 5 finale is an unforgettable episode that shocked all Grey’s Anatomy fans — and the cast, too. The show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes, recently told Entertainment Weekly that she made sure the moment was a surprise for everyone, but “certain members of the crew” on set.
“Nobody knew who George was. Nobody,” she recalled. “T.R. was determined that he would be the body lying on the operating table. He would be the body that you saw every single time, which is why you got to see his beautiful blue eyes.”
“But he was wearing a lot of makeup,” she noted. “I do think we kept it really secret.”
