Prior to landing the role of Meredith Grey in 2005, Ellen Pompeo had been pursuing her dream of being a movie star, taking on roles in films like “Moonlight Mile” and “Daredevil.” She’d only appeared in three episodes of TV before getting her big break in “Grey’s Anatomy,” meaning she was still a relative newbie to the world of TV, while many of her co-stars came with a lot of small screen experience. Patrick Dempsey, who played her on-screen love interest and eventual husband Derek Shepherd, was one of them. Coming to ABC with his own TV quote, Dempsey was paid significantly more than Pompeo; twice as much for the first three years, she would later find out.
Pompeo tried to renegotiate her salary after her initial three-year contract ended, but Dempsey was often used as leverage against her. Execs said, “‘We don’t need you; we have Patrick,’ — which they did for years,” Pompeo revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. Unfortunately, Dempsey rejected Pompeo’rs requests for them to negotiate their salary together, and she constantly had to fight to get the pay she deserved. “At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Grey’s Anatomy and I’m Meredith Grey. They wouldn’t give it to me,” Pompeo admitted.
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It wasn’t until Dempsey exited the show that Pompeo proved just how valuable she really was. In 2016, she negotiated a multi-million dollar deal that came with equity in the show and a producer credit.
