Ellen Pompeo has faced much heartbreak in her own lifeEllen Pompeo admitted she was deeply affected by her mother’s passing(Image: GETTY)Ellen Pompeo, widely recognised as the love-struck doctor Meredith Grey in ABC’s hit series Grey’s Anatomy, is set to grace our screens once again.
The 55 year old actress will be seen in her first role post-Grey’s Anatomy this week, starring in Hulu’s limited drama series Good American Family.
Set to premiere on Hulu on March 19, UK fans can catch the entire boxset on Disney+ starting May 7.
Good American Family delves into the peculiar true story of Natalia Grace (portrayed by Imogen Faith Reid), a seven year old Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism who was adopted under strange circumstances.
Not only does Pompeo lead the cast of Good American Family, but she also takes the helm as an executive producer for the show, reports the Mirror US.
Yet, beyond the glitz of Hollywood, Pompeo has endured significant personal heartache and tragedy away from the camera’s gaze.
Ellen Pompeo has faced much personal tragedy with the death of her mother(Image: GETTY)The untold sorrow of Ellen Pompeo’s familyTragically, Pompeo lost her mother Kathleen at the young age of 39 due to an accidental overdose of painkillers when the future star was just four years old.
Pompeo has been candid about how her mother’s death impacted her during her formative years and well into adolescence.
Kathleen’s struggle with pain medication began after she suffered a car accident at 16, which left her severely injured.
“She was hit by a drunk driver and thrown 90 feet in the air and pretty much broke every bone in her body,” Pompeo recounted in 2020 while speaking on Dax Shepherd’s Armchair Expert Podcast.
Kathleen’s tragic journey into addiction began after a devastating accident, as her daughter revealed. “She was coming from church to go meet my dad and she was crossing the street and got hit by this drunk driver and was in the hospital for almost a year. She was put on morphine.”
The prolonged hospitalisation marked the start of Kathleen’s dependency, with further pain management needed for chronic back issues and slipped discs following her release.
Ellen Pompeo admitted she was deeply affected by her mother’s passing(Image: GETTY)Pompeo opened up about her complex emotions surrounding her mother’s death, acknowledging that there was some bitterness. “When I was a teenager, also coming from an Italian-Irish Catholic family, no one talks about anything, right?” she said, noting that conversations about Kathleen only happened when she “asked” and that it was “very painful for everybody involved”.
As a teen, Pompeo struggled with anger towards her mother. “When I was a teenager, yeah, I was super angry at her for leaving. Not understanding addiction, not understand pain, not understanding any of that and coming from a completely ignorant place. Just anger,” she admitted.
However, her perspective shifted as she matured: “And then once you get older and you understand… there was actually no help for addiction because no one back then talked about addiction. So she probably had zero help.”
Her empathy grew as she considered her mother’s plight. “Then it turns to compassion and feeling really bad that she had nowhere, probably, to go for help when having five children and probably being not able to care for the kids all the time.”
Reaching personal milestones and surpassing the age at which her mother passed away has deeply affected Pompeo.
Ellen Pompeo is stepping back from Grey’s Anatomy(Image: APPLE TV)”What would she have been able to accomplish had her circumstances in life been different?” she pondered.
While the star is happily married to Chris Ivery and mother to three children, she divulged that Kathleen’s passing has amplified her own apprehensions about mortality. Ellen Pompeo opened up about her fear of dying, especially when her kids turned four: “I’m obsessed with death, I think about it all the time. I think about my own death all the time. I always think something bad is going to happen.”
However, despite her earliest memory being the sight of her lifeless mother, she shared that she’s actively “working” on these fears in an effort to progress.
Ellen Pompeo’s Grey’s Anatomy heartbreakTransitioning from her personal grief to professional setbacks, Pompeo has watched many of her Grey’s Anatomy co-stars depart over the years. The actor, synonymous with Meredith Grey for nearly two decades, felt a deep sense of loss when Justin Chambers, aka Dr Alex Karev, decided to leave the series after 15 stellar years.
Reacting to the distressing news of his exit in 2020, Pompeo took to the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), replying to a post which read: “#GreysAnatomy is about to feel one of its biggest losses yet.’ She acknowledged the sentiment with her response: ‘Truer words have never been spoken,’ accompanied by a broken-heart emoji. Having worked alongside Chambers since Grey’s very first episode, his departure resonated deeply with her.
Ellen Pompeo has been on Grey’s Anatomy since 2005(Image: GETTY)Ellen Pompeo’s future on Grey’s AnatomyPompeo may still be on the bill, but she’s dialling back her full-time commitment. In the upcoming Season 21, fans will catch only glimpses of her as she’ll feature in a mere seven episodes, with the show shifting its spotlight to explore the tales of other characters within the Shondaland universe.
Chatting up with Extra about her latest gig as Kristine Barnett in the series Good American Family, Pompeo revealed that it was her agent who nudged her towards the project.
The role presented her with a chance to utterly “disappear into this character” and cast off the shadow of Meredith Grey that she’s been synonymous with.
She elaborated further on the experience: “It was an opportunity to step into something completely different, because I worked with the hair and makeup team and the brilliant costumer. We had so much fun.”
Good American Family airs on Hulu on March 19 and on Disney+ in the UK on May 7