It's a beautiful day to spill Grey's Anatomy tea.
In an excerpt from Lynette Rice's new book, How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy—which was first obtained by The Hollywood Reporter—it was revealed that there wasn't just drama in the scripts of the ABC medical show. Specifically, through interviews conducted with Grey's stars and producers, the origin story behind Patrick Dempsey's exit was discussed, and, frankly, it left us needing a crash cart.
According to James D. Parriott, a former executive producer for Grey's, things were very tense between Dempsey and series creator Shonda Rhimes by season 11. "Shonda needed an OG to come in as sort of a showrunner for fourteen episodes," Parriott shared in the book. "There were HR issues. It wasn't sexual in any way. He sort of was terrorizing the set. Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him."
As Parriott continued, he described Dempsey as having a "hold on the set," since "he knew he could stop production and scare people." Sounds like a less than McDreamy experience!
Although the network and studio tried to intervene, Parriott speculated that, at this point in Dempsey's Grey's tenure, "he was just done with the show." Dempsey's alleged indifference to work only made things worse with Rhimes, as Parriott added that they "were at each other's throats."
And it wasn't just Rhimes who was frustrated with Dempsey prior to his exit. As former executive producer Jeannine Renshaw alleged, leading lady Ellen Pompeo supposedly found herself frustrated about Dempsey's attitude towards work.
"She would get angry that he wasn't working as much," Renshaw recalled. "She was very big on having things be fair. She just didn't like that Patrick would complain that 'I'm here too late' or 'I've been here too long' when she had twice as many scenes in the episode as he did."
Yet, Renshaw defended that Dempsey didn't always realize he was being inconsiderate of his co-stars, adding, "I would say, 'Look around you. These people have been here since six thirty a.m.' He would go, 'Oh, yeah.' He would get it. It's just that actors tend to see things from their own perspective."
It's said Rhimes eventually issued an ultimatum to the network: Either she goes or Dempsey goes. And, in episode 21 of season 11, Dempsey's Dr. Derek Shepherd was killed off.
For the book, Dempsey admitted that the Grey's schedule could be frustrating and exhausting. "It's ten months, fifteen hours a day," he said. "You never know your schedule, so your kid asks you, 'What are you doing on Monday?' And you go, 'I don't know,' because I don't know my schedule. Doing that for eleven years is challenging."
Ultimately, Dempsey said he was "grateful" for the experience, noting, "You're well compensated, so you can't really complain because you don't really have a right."
Obviously, Dempsey has since buried the scalpel with Rhimes and Pompeo, as he made his grand return to the series in season 17. While Meredith (Pompeo) was in coma fighting COVID-19, she had a dreamy reunion with her late husband Derek (Dempsey) on a beach. Viewers even got the proper MerDer wedding they've always wanted!
Reps for ABC and Shondaland declined to comment to E! News. There's currently no response from Pompeo and Dempsey's respective reps.
For all of this and more, grab a copy of How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy when it hits shelves on Sept. 21. You can also get a status update on your other favorite departed docs from Grey's below!