A new tell-all book about the history of smash hit series ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ claims Patrick Dempsey ‘terrorized’ the cast and crew.
Grey’s Anatomy fans were heartbroken after Patrick Dempsey‘s character Derek “McDreamy” Shepard was killed off in season 11 of the show. However, a new book titled, “How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy” claims the A-lister’s exit from the series came amid “HR issues” that weren’t “sexual in any way” but did involve him “terrorizing the set” of the ABC medical drama. A representatives for Patrick Dempsey did not immediately respond to HollywoodLife‘s request for comment.
Executive producer James D. Parriott told Lynette Rice, the author of the unauthorized book that Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes “needed an OG to come in as sort of a show runner for fourteen episodes,” which is what brought him back to the series to help with Patrick’s final days on set. “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,” he says in an excerpt from the book, published by The Hollywood Reporter.
“He had this hold on the set where he knew he could stop production and scare people. The network and studio came down and we had sessions with them. I think he was just done with the show. He didn’t like the inconvenience of coming in every day and working. He and Shonda were at each other’s throats.” Patrick is also quoted as saying, “It’s ten months, fifteen hours a day. 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.”
The A-lister continued, “Doing that for eleven years is challenging. But you have to be grateful, because you’re well compensated, so you can’t really complain because you don’t really have a right. You don’t have control over your schedule. So, you have to just be flexible.” Another producer, Jeannine Renshaw, said the “final straw” was when Shonda Rhimes “finally witnessed” his alleged behavior.
“Shonda had to say to the network, ‘If he doesn’t go, I go.’ Nobody wanted him to leave, because he was the show. Him and Ellen Pompeo. Patrick is a sweetheart. It messes you up, this business.” Patrick ultimately departed the show in 2015, after his character was killed in a car crash. However, he recently returned to the series to appear in a dream sequence with his TV wife, Ellen Pompeo‘s Dr. Meredith Grey.