Just like the rest of Grey’s Anatomy fans, there is one scene that Ellen Pompeo would rather not watch. While on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, the star of the medical drama addressed the traumatic storyline where Meredith (Pompeo) and George (T.R. Knight) have an ill-conceived sexual encounter. The night almost destroys their friendship when Meredith starts crying after the deed is done. Confused by her break-up with the married Derek (Patrick Dempsey), Meredith says she didn’t know she didn’t want to do it until it was over. This reaction hurts George immeasurably, and — as Pompeo said on the podcast — the actors involved in the scene.
“T.R. and I are such good friends, and we had to do a love scene, and we were both crying. The scene was so uncomfortable and awkward. He didn’t want to do that, I didn’t want to do it. When we filmed it, it was so bad. And then the network said there was too much thrusting.”
The network notes made the situation even more painful for the actors. Pompeo continued that considering reshooting such a scene was her “worst nightmare.” Luckily, she said she and Knight were not forced to revisit the scene.
Ellen Pompeo Is Vocal About Her Time On ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Ellen Pompeo relayed to Alex Cooper that she assumed some editing trickery was at work to make the scene viewable for audiences. Even so, she has still never seen it.
“I’ve never watched that scene. I’ve never seen it. I don’t know how it was shot or covered or how it was edited, but I’m full-on in tears the whole entire scene, and those are real tears. There was a lot of stuff that I didn’t want to do at the time,” Pompeo noted.
In the past, Pompeo has also made her opinions about other scenes clear. One of the most notable is the infamous “Pick Me” monologue that Meredith delivers to Derek when he returns to his estranged wife, Addison (Kate Walsh). The scene has not aged well for modern audiences, but even at the time, Pompeo had reservations. She stated she initially fought the scene since she didn’t want Meredith to beg a man to love her. This opinion has remained consistent in the two decades since its release, with audiences tending to agree with Pompeo, no matter how famous the scene has become in the mythology of Derek and Meredith’s relationship. Pompeo has always advocated for herself in the series, even when overruled. Viewers can catch Pompeo and the current cast of Grey’s Anatomy on Thursdays on ABC.
