Ellen Pompeo is baring all—emotionally and physically!
The Grey's Anatomy star is naked beneath her lab coat on one of Entertainment Weekly's Shondaland-themed covers! Inside the mag, Pompeo, along with Scandal's Kerry Washington and How To Get Away With Murder's Viola Davis, talk very candidly with show runner Shonda Rhimes.
One thing Meredith Grey—err, Pompeo—upset about? The sexist response to McDreamy's death! As she puts it, "All of a sudden, Patrick [Dempsey] leaves, and it's like, Oh my God, Meredith's gonna get killed with Alzheimer's! The show couldn't possibly go on without the man!"
Washington, who gave birth to daughter Isabelle in April 2014, likes when a woman is running the show! "I was talking to an actress who's pregnant and really worried about telling her bosses, and I said, 'Yeah, when I told my boss [Rhimes] I was pregnant, she literally jumped up and down in my trailer,'" the Scandal star tells Entertainment Weekly. "I don't know if there's a male show runner who would do that."
Rhimes personally cares about the cast and crew of her shows, but she also knows how and when to get down to business. It seems like she might have inherited some of her leadership skills from her strong mom, who always spoke up for her daughter when she was younger.
As Rhimes tells Entertainment Weekly, "When I encountered something that felt like racism—like my high school guidance counselor saying to me, ‘Honey, I don't think you were made for Ivy League schools'—I called my mom at work and said, "Mom, this lady says I'm not made for Ivy League schools,'" she recalls. "And my mother said, 'Hold on, I'll be there in five minutes.' My mom drove up to the school, walked into the guidance counselor's office, came out, and said, 'Everything's fine now.'"
For much more from all the ladies, pick up the new Entertainment Weekly on stands Friday.