ELLEN THRIVES POST GREY'S

ELLEN POMPEO TAKES HER FIRST STEPS AWAY FROM GREY SLOAN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL.

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TRADING IN HER SCRUBS

After 20 years of 17-hour days, the star is thrilled to have more time to spend with her family —and to pursue new projects.

TWENTY years after her debut as the emotionally complex Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy, Ellen Pompeo, 55, finally has a chance to catch her breath. For years, she balanced her roles as star and producer of the long-running ABC medical drama as well as wife to music producer Chris Ivery, 57, and mother to their three children — Stella, 15, Sienna, 10, and Eli, 8. But stepping back as a regular (she still makes guest appearances) from Grey’s in 2023 proved to be the right choice, both personally and professionally. She told Drew Barrymore that leaving the series’ grueling 17-hour workdays behind after two decades was essential for her family, explaining, “It’s really important for me to be around for them and be more present for them. The show has been incredible to me, and I’ve loved a lot of the experience; it’s just, I gotta mix it up a little bit.”

On the Call Her Daddy podcast, Ellen admitted to having mom guilt, saying she felt torn between her family and the job she loved so much. “Part of you is somewhere else,” she told host Alex Cooper. “You split into different pieces. You're no longer just you.” Yet she also acknowledged the rewards of being a working mother, noting that it “makes you more soulful, richer, funnier and more empathetic.” So, when the opportunity arose for a new post-