Ellen Pompeo: Pick Me, Choose Me, Pay Me More

31:41when I saw that interview between you guys and you were like, did you know what a pick me girl is? And she's like, are we pick me girls? I was dying. You're like, my daughter told me that we basically, and I was the ultimate pick me girl. Stella's like, mom, you're such a pick me. I'm like, oh my God, that line though. I agree. I also will never forget the stairwell moment. And I have to tell you the story because it's so embarrassing. When you looked at Derek and you say, You don't get to call me a whore. Yeah. Yeah. Girl. And you say I you basically say like, I will not apologize for the way that I repair my choose to repair what you broke.

32:21I'm not a whore. I use that on an ex boyfriend. You do. It's so embarrassing. Ellen. I'm in the wake of a breakup. He cheated. I'm devastated. I move on. He finds out I move on quickly. He calls me a whore. I'm sitting there like what what can I say to this man we're gonna get brunch and we're gonna talk it through and I'm like this man has never seen Grey's Anatomy I pull your line out of my ass I look this man dead in the eyes over a coffee and I literally say you don't get to call me a and I said the whole fucking line he was too stunned to speak I was like I literally like I hope he doesn't like go google that shit because it was so brilliant oh and he was like mortified I was like, thank you, Meredith.

33:05Great. Moving on. So I've literally. Pretty good. Meredith has so many near-death experiences. Which do you think was the most insane? Insane in what way? Like, not believable? No, insane in the like, it really pushed, it pushed, like for me, the fairy. Yeah, the fairy and Derek carrying me when I'm blue was, you know, that was amazing. And Christina saying, again, try again. And I'm like, can you watch this just a couple times? That was amazing. Yeah. And I think the bomb moment was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Heavy. Yeah. Which co-star would you consider your closest friend? You know, I probably I'm closest to Justin Chambers.

33:51OK. Yeah. I think Justin and TR. I think I'm closest with them. Cute. As we all saw, Meredith didn't make the best decisions in her relationship sometimes. Sometimes. We love our girl, but sometimes. I'm going to give you a scenario from the show and you tell me what advice you would now give Meredith. Meredith begging Derek to choose her over his wife. Girl, bye. Love. Meredith rebounding with George when she knew he liked her for years I mean can I tell you an inside story about that please this is crazy T.R. and I are such good friends and we had to do a love scene and we were both crying we cried we cried and the scene was so uncomfortable and awkward

34:54and he didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do it. And when we filmed it, it was so bad. And then the network said there was too much thrusting. In your worst nightmare to have to do it one time, we had to reshoot that shit. No. We had to reshoot it and do it twice. No. I mean, if you, by the way, I've never watched that scene. I've never seen it.

35:22But I don't know how it was shot or covered or what the end, how it was edited. But I'm full on in tears the whole entire scene. And those are real tears. Yeah. There was a lot of stuff that I didn't want to do at the time. I didn't want to say pick me, choose me, love me. You know, and to Shonda's credit, like she knew that was going to pop. I was like, why would I do this? Why would I beg? Why would I? And, you know, you have to just suck it up and do it. and it ended up being, you know, the biggest thing ever, the most iconic things ever. So I'm not always the best judge of, you know, what's going to – and it's not like I said it wasn't going to be good.

36:02I was just like, I don't want to do that. And, you know, but so. That's so interesting. Thank you for the little tea there. Thank you. Okay, Meredith attempting to be friends with benefits with an ex like Derek. Listen, it depends on the situation. true you know you never know do what you need to do girl kind of fair handle your business um meredith dating a former patient was he hot who was it was it nick was his name nick oh nick speedman's so hot yes what we're not questioning dating speed i'm not speedman nick marsh yeah Speedman's happily married with two children. My good friend. But, you know.

36:50Daddy gang, he's hot. Love. Okay, and last one. Meredith building her future home out of candles to show Derek her commitment even though he had a girlfriend. Rose. Wait. I built the... No, he did the candle house. No, you did. You stupid, stupid house. I shouldn't have done this. I'm so embarrassed. I don't want to be... Did I? And he comes in, remember? Yes, Meredith. No, I don't even remember. Meredith built the house and candles. I thought he built the house and candles. No, you're like, I'm so embarrassing. This is so stupid. I shouldn't have done this. And then he's like, Meredith. And you're like, this is our living room.

37:22This is where we're going to have the kids. This is where... And then he's like, I have to leave. I have to go tell Rose. Really? I love I'm telling you this. Oh my god. I didn't remember that that's what it was. You know what I remember from that scene? I remember the poor prop people having to light every single candle and like the wind blowing and blowing out half of them. And then me like... So good. There was like 17 of us trying to light all the candles. Okay. It's obviously such a big cast. Can you talk to me about like, how do you handle? Because at the end of the day, this is your job.

37:53How did you handle when maybe you didn't vibe with certain people on set or you didn't get along with people like anyone does in a work environment? Like how did you personally navigate those moments? Maybe not always the best. I think there's no real roadmap to do it one way. I think it depends on the circumstance. you know, not everybody's going to like you and you have to be okay with that. I say, I say that to Stella all the time. You know, you don't like everybody. I don't like everybody. So not everybody is going to like you. And that's sometimes hard, but it's just a fact of life. And you have to just swallow that pill that like, you're not everybody's cup of tea.

38:34and so it's challenging. I think that, you know, sometimes I've, I think what's hard, what was hard for me on set for Grey's is I felt like because I did have a position of power that I could advocate for certain people sometimes and try to fight for people when they maybe didn't feel like they had enough power. and then to have that not be well-received and people to like say like, we don't, we don't, I don't need you to like do that for me. I thought like, oh, yikes, so sorry. Like, you know, um, and, and I, I've learned so much, but, but what I've learned is every situation is different, you know?

39:23And then, um, you know, I, not, not, not, I've not always handled everything perfectly. Obviously, I've stuck my foot in my mouth more times than I can choose on the show and off it. But all you can do is learn. And I think the thing about me is my intention is always good. But sometimes as a sort of strong person, and I'm a strong person because I've survived a lot and dealt with a lot. So I do have a tough exterior. Sometimes that is misconstrued as something else. because I am hard on the outside and I curse like a sailor and I'll literally start a fist fight in the middle of Rodeo Drive with someone who cuts me off.

40:07I will. Don't sleep. I will. But I'm also like super soft and chewy inside. And, you know, so I'm a complex blend, I think. Aren't we all? I do want to talk a little bit more about that, of you being the leading role. right and the pressures that come with that and can we talk about money yeah let's talk about money let's do it

40:54your 20 million dollar salary was publicly shared to the world how did you feel when that came out Well, my manager at the time said something to me that literally hit me like a brick. He said, are you ready to be unpopular? I was like, what do you mean? And he was like, well, I just don't want you to think that everyone's going to go in and cheer for you and clap for you and bow to you and think you're the dopest thing ever. Because there's going to be a lot of people who are not happy for you. And that had never occurred to me. And I was like, oh, thanks for saying that to me. It did not occur to me and you are so right.

41:33And so that was a good prep for me that he said that. But it's true. It's not everybody. And other women have said it publicly. Like, no, people generally, it's hard for people to celebrate other people. And if if they have something that resembles something that they want. No, yeah, I feel very in simpatico with you on this. And I'm enjoying asking you this because I'm also like, I think probably also like enjoying any wisdom I can get because I think you deserve that. And do you. Thank you. But you don't prepare for, you're right, that feeling where you're so like wow holy shit there's not a lot of women who have gotten to this point like and in your head you're celebrating like I remember in my moment it was less about in moments myself more about like I don't think I'm like ever going to get comfortable with the number being out there like my first contract was um I remember when the number got leaked and I was like, whoa, I'm so proud, though, that people know that it's there because it stands for so much, I thought, in my mind.

42:52But then you get this wave of negativity that I say it all the time, and it is a definite statement that men just do not experience this level of scrutiny when it comes to money, you have Jeff Bezos and Elon and Trump and all of these men get to just fucking shit money in front of our faces and everyone thinks it's hot and powerful and they're so, and then the minute we get any of it, even in the ball, not even in the ballpark, we're just lightly getting a part of the conversation. It's like, oh, she doesn't deserve it. Either she's a bitch. She found a way to maneuver it because she's not worth that.

43:34And it's like, it's a lot. It's a lot. And it's patriarchy and it's misogyny. And that's what it is. Sports players too. Sports players are celebrated for their contracts, crazy contracts. Not saying they're not worth it, but I mean, it's okay for them to celebrate it and it's not okay. And I think what what helps me is uh to really focus on to not sort of to take myself out of it and stop thinking about myself and what people think of me and just focus on what I do best which is the work focus on the work and focus on when you make a lot of money as a woman let's face it you have power right?

44:21So then how can I take that power and do good with it? How can I amplify someone else? How can I help someone else? How can I lift up someone else who doesn't sit in the position of privilege that I sit in? Fuck what people think of me. Who cares? You can't control that. What you can do is use your power for good. And there's a lot of women probably in your field, you know, who would love a show on Unwell. Yeah. And who would thrive and would do anything to get on your network and be under your umbrella. They just need a chance. You know, so who cares what people say about you? You just keep doing you and use your power to lift up other people and your power wouldn't have been for nothing.

45:11Can you talk to me about what doubts you personally had to push through in the moments where you needed to essentially go in and advocate for yourself of what you're worth to get to that point in your career where you're like, I deserve this number or whatever it was when you're sitting in those rooms with these people who are probably like, I don't know if you do. Can you talk to me about that? Well, yeah, sure. So I'm super lucky and I have a great team of lawyers and agents, right? And then here we go. Once again, Shonda Rhimes. I, being a woman, I guess I'm conditioned to make sure that I'm not stepping on anybody's toes and I'm being polite, which I guess people maybe who know me wouldn't say, well, bitch, you are not polite.

45:59But anyway, I asked Shonda first. I said, just so you know, she doesn't really have much to do with that stuff. You know, it's business affairs and whatever. But I said to her, I'm going to go in and ask for this much. Are you cool with that? Just because I don't want to be disrespectful to her. I don't want to come off crazy. And I want to let her know what moves I'm making because I do respect her. I am grateful to her. And I do want to make sure I'm moving in the right way, right? And she was like, yeah, no one's going to give it to you. You have to ask for it. And so once I got her blessing to go ahead and do what I wanted to do, then I said to my team, I'm okay with that.

46:43And, you know, necessarily the business people might say, you don't need to ask her permission. You don't need to do that. And then I say, yeah, but I want to. Because truth is, I wouldn't be here without her. So I always back to my being raised in a mafia culture I always want to pay respect to the people that deserve respect And it makes me feel good to know i'm let i'm letting you know how i'm moving because to me that's polite That's courteous. I'm gonna go do this. I don't want to make you look crazy And it's communication and I just feel like it's good business and and people know i'm up front with them and i'm not shady I'm not I'm not shady at all.

47:24I'm super upfront. I always say it like it is may not always land well, but like I'm transparent, you know, I also think something that you said in that that's really great advice for someone when they are going to advocate for themselves and you are going to someone like Shonda, who's again also in a position of power. You in your gut, you were doing it out of a respect. It wasn't because you're back against the wall. You're like, if she finds out she'll be mad it wasn't at a fear base and I think a lot of times when you're going to make a business decision for yourself or a relationship decision whatever it is checking in with yourself to be like why am I actually doing this you went to Shonda because she had whether it was stuck her neck out for you or you and you respected her and you had a great working relationship with her like that was between you and Shonda where you genuinely wanted to do it You didn't have to do it, but it meant something to you in her relationship.

48:19You know what I mean? You know, I believe in honor. Yeah. And the other thing I believe in is sort of I don't want anything that I don't deserve. I don't want anything I don't deserve, and I don't want anything that I haven't worked for. And I'm happy to work for everything I have. And, you know, the CAA can – they print out a report, right? you curating or whatever it is, they spit it out and they let you know exactly how you move the needle. It's all in the data. You affect this many households. Your voice is recognizable to this many people. The median income in that household is this. They break it down.

48:57You see exactly how much this network makes for the parent company. I see exactly how much Grey's Anatomy makes for ABC Disney. I get to see the number. And then, you know, 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. It is, I am the, you know, Disney princess of that franchise. So, you know, I have the sort of data to back up. I know the show has generated this much money. I definitely deserve a percentage of that. and you can do the same. And that's what's challenging. And I've said this before, so I'm sorry if I sound redundant, but it is challenging for women to advocate themselves in different situations and jobs, because if you cannot quantify how what you do contributes to the income of that company, it's harder to fight for yourself and say, I deserve this.

50:05Well, You deserve this based on what? It is easier to quantify what you're worth when you see a hard number. So I advocate for women always fighting for themselves because most likely they are getting undervalued compared to what they're offering men. We know that also statistically and women of color and Hispanic women and Asian women, you know, we know all those numbers. So they're always undervalued. So all women should always push the envelope. All anyone can say is no. such a good fucking point about i the i remember the first contract essentially i was in i was so green i was so new i didn't know anything about bonus structure and download structure and all of that and it was used against me i was being lied to about what i should be getting to for a bonus and so it was this like push and pull of begging for numbers begging for numbers and i I remember when I got into my next contract, that was something I had personally made sure my lawyers put in the contract that every single data point that impacts this show and how much money it's making, I get to see.

51:13Because now I agree with you. It's like anyone out there can be out there saying we don't we don't deserve it or whatever. I'm looking at the numbers. These people aren't just fucking giving out fresh cash and free cash for jack shit. It's like these people, no one is giving out money these days easily. So it's like, you're right. I think if, especially if women, even if it's you're advocating for yourself to get the month, um, like bi-quarterly check-ins and getting more like tangible information, information is power. And when people are trying to block you out of getting information, there is a reason for that.

51:46And the more that you can push to whatever field you're in, you got to try to go for it because that's how you're going to have leverage. So and you talking about the male female thing, which is obvious, obviously you and your co-star Patrick Dempsey. I know you talked about in the past of just like they kind of would use it as leverage in your negotiations. Like. What message did that send you of someone you're on camera with and you can't get the same? Well, you know, listen, to be completely fair, the television game was so different then. And he had done like 13 pilots before me. That was my first pilot I had ever done.

52:26And back in those days, you know, I don't know if they still do this or not. They had like, you had a quote. And with every TV pilot you did, you got your quote, which was whatever it was. So if you've done 13 TV pilots, and here we go, nothing personal to him, but just in general, only a man can fail, can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote still 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 just being that I was the namesake of the show, I deserved the same.

53:10And then that was harder to get. So 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. And that goes for back to my earlier point of like, once you get to a certain level, you can advocate, you know, for other women on your platform or in your job, in your workplace. if you know that you're getting this much and all the other women are well beneath you, you can't just be okay with that. You can't just be like, yes, I'm winning. Cool. Let's go. No. You really do have a responsibility to look and see what everybody else is making and use your power to say, listen, I appreciate what I got.

54:00This is amazing. But I happen to notice this. and I'd really think that all the women deserve a bump. That's, I mean, even hearing you back to the first question I asked you about this, like when your agent said that or your lawyer, I forget which one you said, which was so profound of just being like, girl, no one is gonna be that happy for you. How did you then just navigate the interpersonal dynamics on set of, yet again, knowing you deserved this, but there may be some awkwardness. Like, was it tough? It's like, again, yeah, I have some people-pleasing element that I think all of us have, right?

54:45Well, not everybody, but a lot of people, I definitely have it. And yeah, it's not easy because what you see is, you know, you see the people, I was ready for it, right? Because he made that comment to me. So what I saw was people who didn't say anything. You know, I got emails from all these people. I'm not going to name drop, but like, I got a lot of emails that day when that story came out from, you know, amazing people. People who were like, how'd you get my email? You know, congratulating me. And, but then the ones who are quiet, you know, who don't say anything and you see it and you're like, okay, but, you know, I don't know what to say.

55:26Don't hate the player, hate the game.

55:44Can you talk to me about you're married to Chris and your career obviously was taking off simultaneously. You're dealing with grays. There's these super, super, super, not only steamy moments but I mean like there's the big one of the biggest love stories I guess you could say of all time how did your husband feel about you having this insane romance on screen like was he chill with it was it like a conversation you guys ever had like I guess how do you deal with that as an actress? I mean, I think that it's, Chris really never watched the show. That helped. You know, it was better for him. He knew just not to watch.

56:30You know, he really, I was with him before Grey's. So Grey's kind of came out of nowhere for us. And I just think we were on this crazy ride that we were just trying to hang on for dear life. You know, the part of it that was more intense for me, even more than that, was back to the tabloid stuff of like how they started attacking him, you know, and bringing up his past things and a record that he had and stuff that he did. And, you know, we don't need to get into a whole racial breakdown here. But like, you know, the truth is, is young black men in this country aren't given the same opportunities as everybody else.

57:19And a lot of people come from rough neighborhoods. I came from a rough neighborhood. I did plenty of dirt when I was young. I won't get into that here. But, you know, the truth is, is publicly he was sort of meant, you know, the racial component of our relationship was really something that he never asked for. And I felt really more bad about that, that I felt like the media was really mean to him and really biased. Because how dare this skinny, blonde, petite little woman be with this tall black man? um the visual of that i think america wasn't ready for that the mail that i used to get um the racist hateful violent mail that abc would get because of that i literally got chills when you just said that because it's so disgusting and is like makes me emotional thinking about it because the beautiful family you have created and the beautiful relationship you must have to weather a storm that is all, everyone else is bringing the negativity to you.

58:43Like you're two human beings, like you said before Grey's, like you're doing your thing and then this thing explodes and you become on this pedestal that people want you to act a certain way, date a certain way, be a certain way. And if you don't kind of fall into that exact stereotype that they want you to be, then you're failing. And I mean, I can't imagine the conversations and but if anything, and correct me if I'm wrong, how much stronger in the end made the two of your relationship. But you should have never had to go through that. like have you guys have you have you ever had to talk to your kids about this because like will they ever read these tabloids you know what i mean no no i don't think i don't think so because the media is so different now yeah you know i think i think what's what's really helped is uh well chris is biracial right his mother is white jewish and he grew up in boston in the 70s in a real you know super liberal hippie sort of place right so he was very familiar you know obviously very familiar with that type of attention and either, you know, negativity.

1:00:00Boston historically was always a super racist place. So I'm not, you know, everybody knows that. So, you know, and I think that what's funny about, and Chris and I, because we come from the same place, we're like, you know, sort of two kids who made it out and then landed in Hollywood and like jumped on this ride. And we were just so, we just couldn't believe that, you know, something was actually happening, that it was great. We had this, I had this great job and we were getting to travel all over the world. And so, um, in a way, like we're, we had each other and he's a big reason how I got through all that was because he did understand because he is cut from the same cloth as I am.

1:00:44And I think that, you know, to your point in women in media or people see you and they have a certain idea about who you should be. And for me, you know, people aren't used to, you know, I'm probably people see me and they think they know who I am. And they don't know that, you know, I'm this like sort of tough, you know, half mafia, half street fighter, you know what I mean? I'm confusing to people because they see me and they think I'm one thing or they see Meredith and they think that's me and that's who I am. But really, I'm really very different. Right. And probably should have been on The Sopranos more than Grey's Anatomy.

1:01:28Well, thank God you were on Grey's Anatomy. Okay. I mean, Sopranos would have been dope too, but thank God for Grey's. Yeah. Thank God for Grey's. We're like, yeah, no, that would not have been bad um let's talk about now okay the good american family i'm thinking about good american family and i'm like sitting here and i'm like 21 years of grace yes 21 years yeah this is your first project since that how did you decide like i'm going to invest in a new character in a new story was it even ever a question that you would or wouldn't do anything else well i always I didn't know what I was going to do.

1:02:09I just knew that I really couldn't do grays anymore. Yeah. That it was to the point where I really just felt like, you know, an animal at the zoo. Like I, and even if in, like I said, I'm a big believer in destiny. And I thought, if there's something else I'm meant to do, it's going to find me. And, but, but I know I have to leave this. And sometimes, you know, you'd like opportunities to come while you're doing something so you have an easy exit, you have a soft landing. And it turns out I actually did get a soft landing because I still did both. But I was sort of thinking like nothing's coming along.

1:02:48And I really believe in this town, if they want you, they will find you. I'm on TV for 20 years, the biggest show ever. Like everybody knows who I am. Clearly these people don't want me. They're not coming for me. No one's offering me this. No one's offering me that. I mean, I've been offered a few things, obviously, but like could never make it work. And everyone's always just like, well, we're not going to offer Ellen this because there's no way she can get out of her grace commitment. And, and, you know, for the most part, you shoot network television 10 months out of the year. So I had always committed to that.

1:03:19And then there's no room to do anything else. Now it's a little easier because you don't, you shoot 15 episodes, you know, they've really reduced the orders on network television. But anyway, I had really stepped away and I had said, I really, I have to step away. I can't do it anymore. And if nothing else comes, nothing else comes. It's my destiny. No one wants me. That's okay. I can swallow that pill like I swallow everything else. And at least I'm financially okay. And then I got the script, which Laura Holstein, who's sitting outside. She, um, I think brought it to me with my agent and, uh, and, and, and my agent said, and I said, why would we do this?

1:04:00How will we pull this off? This is kind of tricky stuff. Uh, this world, social media, TikTok, documentaries, cancel culture, all of it, you know, it's all a lot. And this is tricky subject matter. And this looks like walking through a landmine. I don't know why we would do this. And then he said, you've always said if there was something so different and so crazy and a character that was just a complete 180 from everything you've done, that you'd love to do it, to challenge yourself and to prove that you can. And this is it. It does happen to be tricky subject matter. And we're dealing with child abuse and disabled children and a lot of neurodivergent children and a lot of tricky subject matter.

1:04:45But if you really want to take a turn and you really want to flip shit, Ellen, this is the moment right here. And so it's an offer. You know, they want you to do this and you should just go for it. Talk to me about leaning in, obviously, and preparing for this character. It is a it is a very dark story, like as a mother yourself. how did where was the in like how did you find it within yourself to like enter into this character and be this character and bring it to life i think the the first thing i started with was every mother has the intention and the maternal biological crazy instinct to literally do anything for your kids you can lift a car off your kid if you had to right it's this otherworldly strength that you have to want to love your children, protect your children, and you will do anything to give them the best chance.

1:05:41So I started from that. And then what happens when you have the best of intentions and shit just doesn't go the way you thought it was going to go? So I think that things, we have a lot of expectations and especially when people have children, you expect your child's going to be super cute. You're going to dress them up super cute. You're going to put them in little dresses and they're going to look just like you and they're going to do everything you say. And they're going to go to bed when you tell them and it's just going to be awesome. But like sometimes you have a kid who's like, we're not doing that today.

1:06:19I'm going to throw this on the floor. I'm going to knock this over, you know, whatever. And as a parent, like Like there's a lot attached as a parenting is a lot about ego because you do expect this person to do everything you tell them to do. You want them to be exactly who you want them to be. But the truth is they're not. They come out who they are and you have to deal with that. Is this a situation where you guys have been able to talk to the real family? Nope. Can't do any of that. And we really did create like our writers. And this is the interesting thing about fiction and drama and entertainment is we can create our own narrative and the idea that your truth is different than my truth.

1:07:10The two of us can sit here today. I mean, this is maybe a bad example because we're having a great time and it's a love fest. But like, we come away from this with two different versions of what happened. Yes. Which is so often the case. You've been, you know, in situations with people where this person thinks this thing and this person thinks this thing. And you're like, wait, I didn't think that at all. That's what she thought. I was doing this. And they took it as this. So that's another one of our complicated human conditions is like your opinion and your version of events is different than mine.

1:07:45Everybody sees things differently. And we're certainly, you know, dealing with that in our country right now. So we're telling this story from a lot of different perspectives, which makes it complex and interesting. Because you think you know what this story is. People think they know what this story is. There was a movie Orphan that was done years ago. and people are like seeing the trailer and they're like, oh, I know what that is. No, you don't. Like we're smarter than that. Give us some credit, please. We've thought of everything and we've been thoughtful and we're like, what if it was this?

1:08:24What if it was this? What if it wasn't this? What if it was this? And we're giving you a lot to think about. So I'm just so excited for you and for the world to see you in a different role. And I think it's there is an anticipation that is exciting to know that we're not going to see Meredith Gray on screen. And that is and I think that complete departure is such a fascinating take that you did. And I'm excited that you went all the way to the other side. and I'm just excited for everyone in the world to watch this and enjoy it and ingest it and see you in a different light because you're so talented.

1:09:08We've all fallen in love with you through one lens and now we have to adapt and change and it's gonna be such a fun rollercoaster to watch this and to enjoy it and selfishly now getting to know you today. I'm so excited for you that like you said, especially for women, like how crazy that the first contract negotiation that you did for Grey's Anatomy. You were turning 40 and you're like, oh, well, this will probably be it. I guess I'll take the money and now look at where you're sitting. And we are talking about 19 seasons. And then here you are and you got a new career moment that's about to just completely take off in a different direction.

1:09:50And here we go again. It's wild. It's really wild. Last question. What do you hope your legacy is in this industry and what it will be? That's a tough question. Yeah. Because also what I love is like, did you see Jane Fonda on the SAG Awards? Like her consistency, right? I love consistency. I love, yes, she's that bitch. She's exactly who she's always been. She was that then, got canceled for it in the 70s when she was speaking up about us killing children in a war. And she's still speaking up and she's still using her voice. So I guess that being said, I'd really like my legacy to be someone who used my voice, my privilege, and my power to help other people.

1:10:41It was more than an honor to sit with you today. I got my fangirlness out. I learned so much. I felt so inspired. I felt connected. Like this was all the things an interview I could ever ask for. So thank you so much, Ellen. You are one of one. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

1:11:15Thanks to Lieb by Yves Saint Laurent for sponsoring today's episode. Make a statement with Lieb Lonew, the fragrance that sets you apart. Shop now at Sephora.