Was Patrick Dempsey Fired From ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ For Affair With Co-Worker?

Patrick Dempsey had played Dr. Derek Shepherd on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy since its inception in 2005, but was killed off the show earlier this year in the middle of a two-year contract, causing rumors to swirl about the real reason Dempsey left the show.

Was Patrick Dempsey Fired?

A new rumor suggests that Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes fired Dempsey after it came to light that he was carrying on an affair with a coworker. “Patrick had an inappropriate relationship with a young woman who worked on the set,” a source told InTouch.

Ellen Pompeo, who has played Dempsey’s onscreen wife Meredith Grey, was apparently the one to discover the affair – and to bring it to the attention of Dempsey’s estranged wife Jillian Fink. Though the two had long been friends, the friendship was already strained when Pompeo found out about him being unfaithful to Fink, with whom she has also had a close friendship.

“There was tension in Patrick and Ellen’s relationship for years before the final blowup. [She] was sick of his behavior on and off set,” the souce claims. “Ellen Pompeo found out and was angry because she’s close friends with Jillian, so of course, she told her.”

After Dempsey found out that Pompeo had ratted him out to Fink, he apparently lost his temper on his longtime costar, bringing further drama to the Grey’s Anatomy set. “Patrick found out that Ellen told his wife about the relationship and totally lost it. They had a huge blowup on the set in front of everyone,” said the source, who says that Rhimes fired him to avoid any more incidents between the two.

When pressed about the surprising mid-season, mid-contract departure, Dempsey has claimed that it was an organic story-telling progression. Neither he nor Rhimes have called his exit from Grey’s Anatomy a firing.

“(Pause) It just sort of evolved. It just kind of happened. [Being written off] was something that was kind of surprising and uh, just naturally came to be. I like the way it has all played out,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Things happened very quickly… It was just a natural progression, the way the story was unfolding, the way everything was unfolding in a very organic way. It was like, Okay! This was obviously the right time.”