--- title: Ellen Pompeo: 'Grey's Anatomy' Doing Well Without McDreamy description: “It’s amazing how much you get done without a penis” canonical: https://time.com/4306632/ellen-pompeo-greys-anatomy-without-mcdreamy/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-25T16:23:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:02:18.558Z og:title: Ellen Pompeo Says McDreamy's Death 'Wasn't a Choice' for Shonda Rhimes og:description: 'It’s amazing how much you get done without a penis' og:url: https://time.com/4306632/ellen-pompeo-greys-anatomy-without-mcdreamy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb240389b662ba86/6988908b8e06015bba465953/ellen-pompeo-greys-mcdreamy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: People's Choice Awards 2016 - Press Room og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ellen Pompeo Says McDreamy's Death 'Wasn't a Choice' for Shonda Rhimes twitter:description: 'It’s amazing how much you get done without a penis' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb240389b662ba86/6988908b8e06015bba465953/ellen-pompeo-greys-mcdreamy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ellen Pompeo Says _Grey's Anatomy_ Is Doing Well Without McDreamy > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=ba33d2a2-5096-4166-bc49-b8da84bf3a82&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Apr 25, 2016 4:23 PM UTC  Actress Ellen Pompeo poses in the press room at the 2016 People's Choice Awards at Microsoft Theater on January 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Actress Ellen Pompeo poses in the press room at the 2016 People's Choice Awards at Microsoft Theater on January 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Apr 25, 2016 4:23 PM UTC Patrick Dempsey — or McDreamy, as [_Grey’s Anatomy_](http://www.ew.com/topic/greys-anatomy)fans know him as — [left the ABC drama in 2015](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/24/read-patrick-dempseys-final-exit-interview-greys-anatomy), but the show, now in its 12th season, is still thriving. And its star, Ellen Pompeo, isn’t surprised: “It’s amazing how much you get done without a penis,” she said on Monday’s _The Ellen DeGeneres Show._ “We miss him dearly,” she went on to clarify, “but, yeah, the show is doing very well.” “I think a lot of people were really upset about his departure, which is super understandable,” Pompeo went on. “But I think the change is part of the reason why the show goes on so long. I think people tune in to see what is the show look like now, what is Meredith going to do without Derek. I think they get so upset about the change, but change is precisely what everyone always needs to sort of get to the next place.” Watch Pompeo’s full interview with Ellen DeGeneres above, and see _Grey’s Anatomy_ when it airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/04/25/greys-anatomy-ellen-pompeo-patrick-dempsey-degeneres) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://EW.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4306632/ellen-pompeo-greys-anatomy-without-mcdreamy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4306632/ellen-pompeo-greys-anatomy-without-mcdreamy/"},"headline":"Ellen Pompeo Says Grey's Anatomy Is Doing Well Without McDreamy","datePublished":"2016-04-25T16:23:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:02:18.558Z","description":"'It’s amazing how much you get done without a penis'","url":"https://time.com/4306632/ellen-pompeo-greys-anatomy-without-mcdreamy/","keywords":["motto","Television","celebrities","Comedy","News"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb240389b662ba86/6988908b8e06015bba465953/ellen-pompeo-greys-mcdreamy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcb240389b662ba86/6988908b8e06015bba465953/ellen-pompeo-greys-mcdreamy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"People's Choice Awards 2016 - Press Room","caption":"Actress Ellen Pompeo poses in the press room at the 2016 People's Choice Awards at Microsoft Theater on January 6, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic/Getty","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4306632/ellen-pompeo-greys-anatomy-without-mcdreamy/","name":"Ellen Pompeo Says Grey's Anatomy Is Doing Well Without McDreamy"}}]}] ```