After 21 seasons, Grey’s Anatomy is still a hugely popular TV show. Ellen Pompeo once led the medical drama that evolved into an ensemble cast. While her character, Meredith Grey, isn’t featured as a lead today, there’s no questioning how important she is to the series. As Season 22 is in development, with the actress planning to keep providing her voiceover work for the show, Pompeo has spoken about the controversial pay gap that existed between her and male co-star Patrick Dempsey. Dempsey left the show in Season 11, but Pompeo has brought to the table the inequality that existed between their contracts from the very first moment on screen: “Only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote keeps going up.”
Per the report by Deadline, Pompeo appeared on “Call Her Daddy,” the podcast led by Alex Cooper. In the episode, Pompeo spoke about her career, one that began with minor roles in films and television. But years passed, and Pompeo became the star of ABC’s signature medical drama. Eventually, she also landed the title of the “highest-paid actress in a drama series.”
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In 2018, she earned more than $23 million for her work on a single season of Grey’s Anatomy, a major paycheck considering the show works with an ensemble cast. Nevertheless, Pompeo still advocates against the pay gap between men and women in the entertainment business. She has talked about the difference between her paychecks and Dempsey’s in the past, but now discusses the reason why she thinks that happened in the first place. Pompeo explained:
“To be completely fair, the television game was so different then. He had done 13 pilots before me. That was my first pilot that I had ever done. Back in those days, you had a quote, and with every TV pilot you did you got your quote. Nothing personal to him, just in general, only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote keeps going up, right? But in all fairness, his quote was what it was. He was a bigger star than I was, at that point, no one knew who I was.
Everybody knew who he was, so he did deserve that money. I’m not saying he didn’t deserve that money. It’s just, being that I was the namesake of the show, I deserved the same and that was harder to get. I wasn’t salty about him getting what he got. I was salty that they didn’t value me as much as they valued him, and they never will.”
“I Am the Disney Princess of That Franchise”
ABC
There’s no denying that Ellen Pompeo has a very good point. The gender pay gap is a reality that the entertainment industry has failed to observe and ultimately solve. Her remarks are not against her male co-star, but against the system and studio that still owns the show that she promotes every day after more than 20 seasons. Her words:
“I see exactly how much Grey’s Anatomy makes for ABC/Disney. I get to see the number. It’s my face, it’s my voice. I’ve done so much work promoting the show all over the world for the past 20 years. I am the Disney princess of that franchise.”
It’s hard to argue against Pompeo, especially since she is still the face of the popular franchise. Many actors have come and gone from the show, but after all of these years, Pompeo remains the first person many think of when Grey’s Anatomy is mentioned. And that’s valuable to a series that has been on the air for so long.
Source: Deadline
Grey’s Anatomy
Release Date
March 27, 2005
Network
ABC
Directors
Rob Corn, Kevin McKidd, Debbie Allen, Chandra Wilson, Allison Liddi-Brown, Jeannot Szwarc, Tony Phelan
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Chandra Wilson
Dr. Miranda Bailey
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James Pickens Jr.
Dr. Richard Webber
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Justin Chambers
Dr. Alex Karev
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