Ellen Pompeo's recent on-set story from a past Grey's Anatomy episode is raising eyebrows.
On her new podcast Tell Me, Ellen was reminiscing with former castmate Patrick Dempsey about their time together on the show. During the conversation, a moment Patrick wasn't there for came up. Ellen spoke about the time that Denzel Washington directed an episode as a favor to Debbie Allen, who was trying to keep Ellen at the show with new and creative opportunities.
"After you left, I was like, 'Eh, why do I have to stay here?'" Ellen admitted to Patrick.
"'Everyone's gone. I gotta go now. Sandra's gone, Patrick's gone, I gotta go, too.'"
Then the opportunity to work with Denzel came about.
"He came probably three weeks prior so he could get caught up, because Denzel doesn't watch much TV, he'd probably never seen the show," she noted.
"He did the show because his wife is a big fan … I think he saw it as a good exercise to just come in and direct something quick."
"But, imagine Denzel Washington coming on to direct an episode of Grey's Anatomy? That's something that I never thought that I would see, ever," she continued.
"Superstars are superstars for a reason. There's just an energy and a vibration that they give off that makes them super charismatic. Patrick has it, Obama has it, anyone that I've ever met that's, like, crazy charismatic has it. And Denzel has it in spades, for sure … But, Denzel's a movie star, right? He doesn't know [expletive] about directing TV."
Ellen explained that in a scene during the episode, a character was apologizing to her for assaulting her. The actor took a meek approach to the apology, which Ellen vocally objected to.
"And I was pissed that I had to sit there and listen to this apology. And he wasn't looking at me in the eye … and I yelled at him, I was like, 'Look at me! When you apologize, look at me!' And that wasn't in the dialogue," she explained.
Denzel wasn't a fan. "Denzel went ham on my [expletive]," Ellen shared. "He was like, 'I'm the director! Don't you tell him what to do!'"
"I was like, 'Listen, [expletive], this is my show! This is my set! Who are you telling — You barely even know where the bathroom is!'
"I have the utmost respect for him as an actor, as a director, as everything, but we went at it! And then his wife came to set to visit, and I was not talking to him. I was mad at him.
"And I told his wife, I was like, 'Yeah, he yelled at me today. He let me have it today, and I'm not OK with him, and I'm not looking at him, and I'm not talking to him.'"
