Patrick Dempsey Accused Of Toxic Behavior On Grey’s Anatomy Set

Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey infamously left the show in its eleventh season, only to return again in its most recent seventeenth season. The reason for his earlier departure from the show seem to have now come to light, with Lynette Rice’s new book about the show painting Dempsey as quite the nightmare to work with.

Show producer James D. Parriott recounted several incidents in the unauthorized book titled “How to Save a Life: the Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy.” He alleged that several other cast members suffered from PTSD as a result of Dempsey’s actions.

Parriott clarified that while none of these actions were sexual in any way, Dempsey seemed to be done with the show. He added that Dempsey “didn’t like the inconvenience of coming in every day and working” and that Dempsey and show creator Shonda Rhimes “were at each other’s throats.”

It’s ten months, fifteen hours a day. You never know your schedule, so your kid asks you, ‘What are you doing on Monday?’ And you go, ‘I don’t know,’ because I don’t know my schedule. Doing that for eleven years is challenging. But you have to be grateful because you’re well-compensated, so you can’t really complain because you don’t really have a right. You don’t have control over your schedule. So, you have to just be flexible.

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Patrick Dempsey explained in the book

Jeannine Renshaw, who was also a producer on the show, corroborated these facts. However, he did not blame Dempsey, called him a sweetheart and said that “it messes you up, this business.”

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