Ellen Pompeo opens up about Patrick Dempsey leaving 'Grey's Anatomy,' supports Shonda Rhimes's decision

Ellen Pompeo is speaking out about Patrick Dempsey’s departure from Grey’s Anatomy.

The actress, who plays Dempsey’s wife on the show, talked to E! News about Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd’s heartbreaking death, which she admitted was “very hard for everyone.”

“I knew it was going to be huge, of course. I think we all did,” Pompeo said on the 2015 Summer TCA press tour red carpet. “Patrick was an integral part of the show and it was huge for the fans.”

Pompeo also expressed her support for showrunner Shonda Rhimes’s decision to kill Derek, but knew it would be a difficult storyline for the fans to accept.

“We had a lot of discussions about the aftermath and the onslaught of death threats [Rhimes] received and things,” Pompeo recalled. “…If the character is still alive, then the audience can never let go of that character and then they always want them to come back”

Though it was hard to say goodbye to the character, Pompeo is grateful that Rhimes did not make Derek “a bad guy.”

“I think knowing that [Dempsey] did an amazing 11 seasons and was ready to move on,” she explained.” “And you can’t have his character, like she said, be a bad guy. You don’t want him to be a bad guy and leave his family.”