Ellen Pompeo Reacts To Backlash Over $20M ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Salary & More ‘Call Her Daddy’ Bombshells

Ellen Pompeo is getting candid. The “Grey’s Anatomy” star sat down with Alex Cooper for the March 19 episode of “Call Her Daddy” where she dished on her 20-year run as Meredith Grey in the longest-running primetime medical show ever in American TV history and also discussed being one of the world’s highest paid actors. The 55-year-old, who negotiated a $20 million salary for “Grey’s”, opened up to the podcast host about the backlash she received when the information was made public back in 2018. “My manager at the time said something to me that literally hit me like a brick. He said, ‘Are you ready to be unpopular?’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he was like, ‘Well, I just don’t want you to think that everyone’s going to go in and cheer for you and clap for you and bow to you and think you’re the dopest thing ever, because there’s going to be a lot of people who are not happy for you,’” she said in part. The actress also spoke about her relationship with the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes, adding how the executive producer has supported her. “Her best quality as a boss is – that’s so easy to answer. When you tell her you’re pregnant, you’re having a baby, she literally like, sounds the bell, the confetti comes down. ‘How many days do you need off? What can we do for you? How do we make this easier for you? How do we get you paid and keep your job?’” Plus, the “Good American Family” star shared her honest thoughts on an “uncomfortable” and “awkward” sex scene she filmed with T.R. Knight. “We cried,” she revealed, adding, “He didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to do it. And when we filmed it, it was so bad. And then the network said there was too much ‘thrusting.’ In your worst nightmare to have to do it one time – we had to reshoot that s—t. We had to reshoot it and do it twice. By the way, I’ve never watched that scene. I’ve never seen it.”