“Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo says she shed real tears throughout an “uncomfortable” sex scene she was forced to film.
Ellen Pompeo reflected on her onscreen sex scene with co-star T.R. Knight during Wednesday’s episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, admitting she struggled to get through it.
“This is crazy. T.R. and I are such good friends,” the actress said. “And we had to do a love scene, and we were both crying. We cried. We cried. And the scene was so uncomfortable and awkward, and he didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to do it.”
“And when we filmed it, it was so bad,” she said.
Pompeo says she was met with criticism from the network. She claims ABC complained of “too much thrusting,” requesting the actors re-shoot the scene.
“In your worst nightmare, to have to do it one time … we had to reshoot that shit! We had to reshoot it and do it twice,” Pompeo told Cooper.
Pompeo was so disturbed by the experience.
“By the way, I’ve never watched that scene,” she said.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 02: Ellen Pompeo attends the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 02, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
“I’ve never seen it, but I don’t know how it was shot or covered or what the end, how it was edited, but I’m full on in tears, the whole entire scene. And those are real tears.”
The famous actress emphasized “there was a lot of stuff” she “didn’t want to do at the time.”
“I didn’t want to say, ‘Pick me, choose me, love me,’” she said, reflecting on the vulnerability of her character in the scene.
Pompeo believes producer Shonda Rhimes made the right decisions for the scene, noting the attention it drew.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 13: Ellen Pompeo arrives at the Special Premiere Of Hulu’s “Good American Family” at Directors Guild Of America on March 13, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic) Getty Images
“To Shonda’s credit, like, she knew that was going to pop. I was like, ‘Why would I do this? Why would I beg, why would I?’ And you know, you have to just suck it up and do it.”
“It ended up being, the biggest thing ever, the most iconic thing ever.” (RELATED: Gina Gershon Describes Sex Scene With Tom Cruise That Took An Unexpected Turn)
“So I’m not always the best judge of what’s going to … and it’s not like it wasn’t going to be good – I was just like, ‘I don’t want to do that,’” she said.
