After 20 years on television’s longest-running prime-time medical drama,Grey’s Anatomy,Ellen Pompeohas learned who she is — and what she wants.
Told from multiple points of view, the show revolves around a Midwestern couple who adopt a Ukrainian child with a rare form of dwarfism. In time they become suspicious that she’s actually an adult and their lives are in danger. “It was like, ‘Wow, this is intense. How would we pull this off?’ And I said, like I say often, ‘This isn’t for me,’ ” Pompeo tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “And then everyone around me convinces me that this is something you definitely should do.”
Ellen Pompeo.JONNY MARLOW
JONNY MARLOW
After her breakthrough role in 2003’s hit comedyOld School. Pompeo took a sharp turn in her movie-focused path when she was offered the role of Meredith Grey. Premiering in March 2005,Grey’s Anatomybecame an overnight sensation and shot Pompeo to instant stardom. Her 2017 contract negotiation also included profit sharing and commitments for her production company Calamity Jane.
The notoriously private Pompeo was vocal about her fight — and victory — in the media. “Men talk about whatever they want, and we’ve been told it’s uncouth to talk about money,” she explains. “Or if you complain, you are ‘difficult’ or ‘crazy.’ ”
The actress also hoped her words would empower other women “who want to speak up and show up authentically about inequities, wherever it is,” she adds. “I sit in a seat of enormous privilege. As a White woman, as a working actress, as a person who’s super well-compensated. If people that sit with privilege can’t use it to better the lives of others, you really don’t deserve it.”
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Reflecting on her younger years, Pompeo acknowledges she battled for self-confidence. “I was so skinny and I hated it and everyone thought I had an eating disorder,” she says. “It was a whole situation with how skinny I was, and there was so much negative attention. Girls today can be gorgeous and thin and thank God we’re not allowed to comment on women’s bodies, even though people do. But I just had so much anxiety and lacked self-esteem because people were so critical of my physicality.”
Ellen Pompeo at the SAG Awards in 2006.Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
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A big believer in destiny and fate, Pompeo trusts that her journey “is the one that I’ve been meant to have," she says. “I feel quite peaceful about where I’ve been and what I’ve done. And I’m really excited about what lies ahead.”
Good American Familypremieres March 19 on Hulu.
source: people.com
