Here's the Real Reason Patrick Dempsey Left 'Grey's Anatomy' Five Years Ago

Why did Patrick Dempsey depart 'Grey's Anatomy' after 10 years again in 2005? Fans still don't seem to be over his departure. Find out why here.

It's been nearly five years since we last saw Patrick Dempsey portray Dr. Derek Shepherd aka McDreamy on Grey's Anatomy, and to be truthful, we nonetheless are not over his departure from the series. One of the display's most popular characters was (SPOILER ALERT) killed off the display during Season 11, and to these days, fanatics of the standard medical drama surprise what in the end led to him to step clear of this kind of loved function. Here's everything we know about why Patrick Dempsey left Grey's Anatomy! 

Why did Patrick Dempsey leave 'Grey's Anatomy'?

So it seems, after nearly 11 years on the collection, Patrick, who played Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey)'s husband on the display, decided he was simply in a position to transport on. Specifically, he wanted to make more time to spend together with his spouse, makeup artist Jillian Fink, and three children, Talula, Darby, and Sullivan. 

"I’m very grateful for Grey’s Anatomy,” he told People in 2016. “It’s given me the opportunity to do everything. But at the same time, there was a cost.”

Eleven seasons with a show is certainly a long time, and Patrick was feeling that. "It have been lengthy enough. It used to be time for me to move on with different things and different pursuits. I most likely must have moved on a few years previous."

Shortly before he left the show for good, his wife filed for divorce after 16 years of marriage. "I feel after a certain time frame, regardless of how much cash you make, you need keep an eye on out of your individual schedule,” he added at the time. The couple referred to as off their split the following 12 months.

Patrick left the display with appreciate, as writer Shonda Rhimes printed his determination to exit was a mutual discussion. "We had a lot of discussions about it," she mentioned at the 2015 Summer TCA press excursion. "It wasn't easy or fun, it is never easy or fun. We've been working really hard for a long time together. We're family. Those choices and those decisions are never easy for any of us."

Fans of the display know that Derek died in a sad automobile twist of fate at the finish of his ultimate season, leaving in the back of his spouse and 3 children. And whilst viewers were not satisfied that he used to be killed, Shonda defined that there was once a just right reason at the back of it. "The decision to have the character die the way that he did was not a difficult one in the sense of what were the options?" she explained.

"Either Derek was going to walk out on Meredith, and leave her high and dry, and what was that going to mean? That was going to suggest that the love was not true, the thing we had said for 11 years was a lie and McDreamy wasn't McDreamy. For me, that was untenable." 

Her objective was once to handle their love. "As painful as it was for me as a storyteller, because I had never really thought that was going to happen, it preserved what felt true to me, was that Derek was going to have to die in order for that love to remain honest," she mentioned.

"Because I really couldn't have the idea that he just turned out to be a bad guy who walked out on his wife and kids be a true story," Shonda added. "To me, it felt like that was the only way to make Meredith and Derek's magic remain true and forever frozen in time."   

With OG Dr. Alex Karev (performed by way of Justin Chambers)'s final episode airing on Thursday, March 5, fanatics can not help however feel nostalgic about Derek. Here's hoping he's going to make a surprise cameo on the show sooner or later in the long term!

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