Grey's Promo Leaves Ellen Pompeo Reflecting on a Dangerous Mistake That She Made to Not Be Seen as 'Difficult'

Charlie Mason
·2 min read
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Thursday’s promos for next week’s fan-favorite repeats of Grey’s Anatomy had everyone talking — including Ellen Pompeo. After the broadcast of a clip from Season 2’s “As We Know It,” in which an explosion at the hospital blasts Meredith backwards so hard that her head slams into the floor, her portrayer clarified for a fan on Twitter that “that was actually a stunt double that got a concussion and had to go to the ER.”

However, Pompeo did also perform the perilous stunt herself. “Well, of course the director [thirtysomething vet Peter Horton] insisted I do it after the professional got hurt,” she tweeted. “Of course they would ask me to do it, and of course, being the people pleaser I was… I said yes knowing they would use the take where she hit her head, anyway, because that looks so dramatic.

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“The lesson here, ladies, is this,” she continued. “Don’t do things that make you uncomfortable because you’re afraid people will see you as difficult. Trust me, they are going to see you as difficult no matter what you do.”

In retrospect, the leading lady acknowledged that there were other contributing factors in her decision to take the risk. By the time Team Grey’s shot bomb-squad leader Dylan (Kyle Chandler) being blown up, “it was about 2:30 am, and we’d been shooting easily 15 hours,” she said. “At that point, I was physically and mentally exhausted from shooting the other parts of that scene and knew it was dangerous, and I still did it, anyway — not to be a hero, to not be a ‘problem.’

“But also in an effort to do whatever was necessary to make the show great — all worthwhile lessons,” she added. “There is a lot of value both in working hard and making mistakes.”

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