14 DAY TRIAL // In late April, word got out online that Patrick Dempsey was acting like a diva on the set of the ABC hit medical series “Grey’s Anatomy,” and that writer and series creator Shonda Rhimes was seriously considering killing him off for it. Sure enough, a few days later, his Dr. McDreamy found his tragic and unexpected demise.
A new report insists that Dempsey’s departure wasn’t as amicable as he led fans to believe in an interview published after the controversial episode. Instead, it adds, it was prompted by something else that happened on set, not his diva behavior.
Dempsey got caught cheating
Some time before the episode aired, Dempsey and his longtime wife Jillian Fink announced they were getting a divorce. At the time, no one thought to connect the two events, because no one knew he would be killed off on the series.
Radar Online says there was a connection, represented by a young woman with whom he engaged in an affair on set.
“Patrick had an inappropriate relationship with a young woman who worked on the set,” a spy reveals. “[Costar] Ellen Pompeo found out and was angry because she’s close friends with Jillian, so of course, she told her.”
Jillian then filed the divorce papers, and word of Dempsey’s behavior got out fast. It eventually reached Rhimes’ ears, who, having little tolerance for “that kind of behavior,” decided it was time for McDreamy (and Dempsey) to go.
Some kind of drama must have taken place
It makes little sense for a series creator to take issue with the way the talent behaves when they’re not in front of the camera, but stranger things have been known to happen in showbiz.
Even assuming that the report above is inaccurate, which it might very well be, there is no denying that the timing of Dempsey’s departure was odd at best. First of all, he still had another year on his contract after he renewed it for 2 years, and even he admitted he was shocked to find out his character died from injuries resulted in the car crash.
Secondly, the way everything played out both on screen and in real life, on set, the death seemed rushed. Dempsey said he only found out about it some time before he got to shoot the scene and that he was surprised at the course the story was taking.
This gives weight to the theory that there must have been some sort of falling out between Rhimes and the actor, and that she got even with him for it by getting him axed. What’s up in the air is the reason for the falling out, and spies claim it was either his diva behavior or his wandering eye.