Ellen Pompeo Teases Leaving 'Grey's Anatomy' Before It Ends

Ellen Pompeo has starred as Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy for sixteen seasons. As she prepares for production on the seventeenth season to begin, the 50-year-old actress is starting to think about the right time for her to leave the long-running medical drama.

While chatting with Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast, Pompeo opened. up about the downsides of playing the same character for nearly two decades. She explained that watching herself age "from 33 to 50 now on screen [is] not so fun." Though most actors have the unique ability to see themselves age on screen, Pompeo said you can "really see it" on Grey's "I'm in the same clothes, I'm in the same character. So the way I see myself aging – that's a motherf***er."

As a result of seeing herself age in such a way, Pompeo has started to plan for her departure from the show. "I do not want to be the grapes dying on the vine," she told said. "Certainly, to dip out sooner rather than later at this point, having done what we've done, to leave while the show is still on top is definitely a goal. I'm not trying to stay on the show forever. No way. The truth is, if I get too aggravated and I'm no longer grateful there, I should not be there."

Pompeo has previously spoken about her decision to stay on Grey's for so long, even after many of her original co-stars have left the series to pursue other acting opportunities. "I got in the game late. I didn't start Grey's until I was 33, and then I started having kids at 40," she told Entertainment Tonight recently. "I knew coming up on 40, it's like, I don't want to be out there chasing things, running after things, begging. I'd rather just see this as the blessing that it is."

"It's pretty common for actors to try and run away from stuff... that's OK. I understand that. Completely understand that," she continued. "But at my age and where my life is, I'm not trying to run away from anything," Pompeo said. "It is who I am. I made my choices and I'm cool with it... Grey's has been a gift."

As of now, ABC hasn't renewed Grey's Anatomy beyond its upcoming seventeenth season, which is also when Pompeo's contract expires. Her co-stars Kevin McKidd, Camilla Luddington and Kim Raver have all signed new deals that would potentially keep them on for an additional two seasons. We'll just have to wait and see if this is Meredith Grey's last hurrah at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Photo: