Grey's Anatomy's Ellen Pompeo Denies Her Promotion Caused Co-Stars To Leave Show

Meredith and Arizona in the supply closet

It's a fascinating time for ABC's Grey's Anatomy. The beloved medical drama is currently in the midst of its whopping 14th season on the network, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Firefighter spinoff Station 19 will arrive shortly, and a new web series recently highlighted the new group of interns at the hospital. But there are still challenges, and it was just announced that long running stars Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew will be leaving at the end of this season, with fans saying goodbye to both April and Arizona. A recent report hinted that Pomeo's recent massive deal for two more season may have factored into the duo of actresses leaving, and now Meredith Grey herself is setting the record straight. Fired back on twitter, check it out.

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That's a pretty strong denial of the claims, and is yet another bold statement made by Grey's Anatomy's star and now producer. She's known for speaking her mind and advocating for herself, and now it looks like that heat is directed toward one specific story.

The report in question came from Deadline, which reported Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw's exit from Grey's Anatomy. But in the same paragraph, they also cited Ellen Pompeo's groundbreaking deal with the network. It's apparently this association that Pompeo had a problem with, and she made her feelings known. That said, the following paragraph in Deadline's report directly followed up with the following:

Sources close to the matter stress that the decision for Capshaw and Drew's exits was based strictly on the show's creative direction, something Vernoff alluded to in her statement.

Alas, this was not enough to quell Ellen Pompeo's feelings about the story, and her inclusion in the narrative. And if possible raises were not the reason for the duo of actresses leaving, there certainly are other possibilities to consider.

Both Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew have been on the show for a very long time, so it would make sense of they'd like to hang up their scrubs for a while. Capshaw's Arizona Robbins debuted back in Season 5, and has been a major LGBT presence on TV for ten years. Meanwhile April Kepner popped up early in Season 6, and recently made her directorial debut with the B-Team webseries. With so many season on the show under their belts, it makes sense for them to move on. After all, they wouldn't be the first.

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays on ABC. In the meantime, check out our midseason premiere list to plan your next binge watch. Additionally, check our Amazon premiere list and superhero premiere list to ensure you don't miss a single episode.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.