Ellen Pompeo
News (Page 7)

The dark, back office of a Georgian house in Bloomsbury is an incongruous place to be interviewing Ellen Pompeo. But that's where The Telegraph (U.K.) tracked her down for the second of two exceptional interviews we've found featuring the Grey's Anatomy star this week.

Yes, it's a far cry from the sun-baked Los Angeles lot where Pompeo is usually to be found, in scrubs, as the title character in Grey's Anatomy.

Dr. Meredith Grey - brisk, vulnerable, self-destructive, talented - is a lead unlike any other on American television, and her gripping screen presence and romantic train wrecks hook 20 million viewers a week.

In its annual "Celebrity 100" power list, Forbes ranked Pompeo and her co-stars number 12, while the Desperate Housewives cast fell to 47.

Yet in Britain, where the drama is the main draw on the digital channel Living with reruns on Five, Ellen Pompeo is hardly a household name.

Male critics have sniffed at the 'vapid' scripts and 'mawkish' acting in the drama about five trainee surgeons at a Seattle hospital.

But Ellen Pompeo's portrayal of a woman totally competent in her work and an utter disaster in her relationships has forced even veteran Hollywood producers to examine how a lead wh's such a mess - prone to getting drunk in bars and picking up strangers - can prove so compelling.

The tabloids have focused on Pompeo's weight (she's supposedly anorexic), behavior on set (she's supposedly a diva) and, since her November engagement, the colorful past of her fiancé Chris Ivery, a record producer, and the size of the engagement ring he gave her.

This, a dazzling oblong diamond, has caused Ellen Pompeo so much angst that she is even now twisting it off her tiny hand.

'Completely garish, isn't it?' she asks. 'He got it in Beverly Hills and spent his entire life savings, which I could kill him for. I was very mad about it. Some days I really love it, and some days I just want to sell it and give the money to charity. All the magazines care about is the size. I think, "Oh, it's absolute rubbish and I'd like to throw the ring in the sewer."'

Continue reading The Telegraph's lengthy, revealing interview with Ellen Pompeo after the jump ...

Continue Reading...

Thanks to the many fans who alerted us to this interview. It is, as the magazine bills it, just what the doctor ordered.

In a candid conversation with Ellen Pompeo, who's every bit as outspoken as she is stylish, L.A. Confidential Magazine gives us one of the best looks yet at the Grey's Anatomy star we've come to know and love.

If Pompeo had to write an essay on "What I Did on My Summer Vacation," it would probably be about the globe-trotting she's done - New York, Paris, Japan â€" in the weeks leading up to the new season of her hit show.

It's been a wild ride for the 37-year-old Boston native, who got engaged in November to fellow Bostonian Chris Ivery.

Ellen Pompeo's first blip on the Hollywood radar came as Jake Gyllenhaal's love interest in Moonlight Mile (2002).

She popped up again here and there in smaller roles in memorable movies like Old School and Catch Me If You Can. But in 2005, Grey's Anatomy suddenly thrust her fully into the spotlight.

Pompeo shines as Meredith Grey, the intern whose sexual exploits and professional struggles are chronicled in excruciating detail each week, much to the delight of the show's 25 million-plus loyal viewers who keep tuning in to ogle Grey's McLoveInterest du jour.

Unlike her character, however, Ellen Pompeo is anything but indecisive.

Full of opinions on everything from young Hollywood to the media, Pompeo just calls it like she sees it - a refreshing trait in a town where honesty is so rarely the best policy.

"I just think the media should take this country in a different direction. We're so focused on the wrong things," she says. "We're teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing. What are we doing to this younger generation? It's not very responsible."

Follow the jump to read Ellen's interview ...

Continue Reading...

Echoing the sentiments of many, Ellen Pompeo says Hollywood socialites "who are rich and famous for nothing" are setting a bad example.

"I just think the media should take this country in a different direction," the 37-year-old Grey's Anatomy actress tells the new issue of Los Angeles Confidential Magazine, on newsstands August 15.

"We're so focused on the wrong things. We're teaching young girls that this is what they should be focusing on: rich and famous girls who are rich and famous for nothing."

In an thinly-veiled reference to coverage of Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and their ilk, Pompeo says:

"What are we doing to this younger generation? It's not very responsible."

Pompeo, who plays Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey's Anatomy, calls the media "irresponsible" for speculating that she has an eating disorder.

"I worry about the girls who look up to me - I don't want them to think I starve myself or don't eat."

"I don't want them to think that to be like me, that's what they have to do," explains the actress, who is naturally slender.

Pompeo, a Boston-area native who is engaged to record producer Chris Ivery, says they haven't yet set a wedding date. The pair got engaged in November, having dating for three years.

"I swear we're going to get married at sometime," Ellen Pompeo says. "We're just trying to fit it all in. It won't be a big ceremony - we want one thing to ourselves!"
Does Ellen Pompeo see children in her future?

"I do," she says. "With the show, I just don't know if it's entirely fair to myself and to everybody else right now. We'll see what happens."

Thanks to one of our readers, Tamika. for forwarding this along. According to Ellen Pompeo's Wikipedia page, the actress appeared in the music video for "Have a Nice Day," a single by the Welsh rock band Stereophonics. The song appears on their 2001 album, Just Enough Education to Perform.

See if you can spot a younger Ellen Pompeo ...

As always, if you find anything you think that would make a good addition to our video section, leave a comment or let us know via our Contact Us form! Thanks to your help, this Grey's Anatomy site can become even more comprehensive than ever!

Just a few pictures of Ellen Pompeo showing her support for actor pal Matt Damon at the Los Angeles premiere of The Bourne Ultimatum held at the ArcLight Hollywood Wednesday night in Hollywood.

The Grey's Anatomy star seems to love to wear long, black dresses. No complaints, though, as it certainly works for her!

Leading lady Ellen Pompeo daringly pulled off a one-shouldered dress from the Christian Dior Fall 2007 collection Monday at John Galliano's Haute-Couture Fall-Winter 2008 collection presentation held at ‘l Orangerie' of the Versailles Castle near Paris, France.

The Grey's Anatomy star finished off her look with a pair of Christian Louboutin slingbacks and her main man, music producer fiance Chris Ivery.

As always, we're glad to see news and pictures of Ellen Pompeo. Click here for another photo of Ellen and Chris. What do you think of her outfit?

According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Ellen Pompeo and a new friend clicked hit it off over champagne and blisters in Paris, as their guys looked on.

The Grey's Anatomy star was in Europe promoting the ABC show with her then-boyfriend, now-fiancé Chris Ivery; Kim McNair and Tim Lawless were there to celebrate a wedding anniversary and play backgammon.

The Minneapolis "Ims," as Kim and Tim are known by friends in Europe, were waiting for their Yachts de Paris dinner ride on the Seine to begin when she said to Tim:

"I love this city. Everywhere you go, they offer you champagne. Ellen Pompeo and Chris Ivery come on and I look at my husband and say, 'Is it?' and he goes 'Yeah, for sure.' She is sitting maybe 2 feet away from us."

"And she leans over with her champagne glass and clicks my glass and goes Don't you just love the city? They always offer you champagne."

It turns out that she and Pompeo clicked - so well, in fact, that their two tables for two were combined into one table for four.

"The ship was very formal and Ellen was in formal wear, but she had flats, flip-flops on," Kim said.

The TV doctor, whose co-stars include another Minnesotan, T.R. Knight, started complaining about blisters.

Continue Reading...

For Ellen Pompeo, actions certainly speak louder than words.

While Pompeo took the high road when addressing Isaiah Washington's recent firing, her presence at the event for LifeWorks, at the "Life Out Loud" benefit in Los Angeles June 9, spoke for itself.

The organization, which finds mentors for gay and lesbian youth, is certainly lucky to have a famous and positive presence like Ellen Pompeo.

The Grey's Anatomy leading lady sat down with Us Weekly at the event to talk about why she cares about the cause, and what she would do if she was the mother of a gay child.

US: How did you get involved with LifeWorks?
Ellen Pompeo: Through Chip Sullivan, a dear friend and fellow Bostonite. He speaks so passionately about the organization. It's such a wonderful organization. I would love to see it be taken nationwide.

US: Growing up, did you have gay people in your life?
Ellen Pompeo: Yes, a ton. I was raised by drag queens practically. And when I left Boston at 20 years old, I went to South Beach with all of my gay friends. Always very close with the gay community.

US: Was there anyone when you were younger who touched your life?
Ellen Pompeo: I wouldn't say there was one person who touched my life. There were several. My mother died when I was four years old, so I was effectively raised by a bunch of different people. And a lot of those people were friends of my sister, Kathleen (I have three sisters), who had all these gay friends. She would baby-sit me everyday, and she would take me over to her friend's houses with all kinds of things going on: tucking, and eyebrow drawing, waxing, all sorts of things. I was literally raised by gay men. And a lot of other people: my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, but I spent a great deal of time with a lot of gay men.

US: Obviously there was a lot of controversy on your set this year, but you're making a big statement by being here. How did that all unfold for you?
Ellen Pompeo: I choose to focus on, now what has happened but what we can do. What can we do to make things like [Isaiah Washington's outburst] not happen again? How can we be proactive and change the environment and move forward and make a day when we don't have these problems. Hopefully organizations like LifeWorks move us in that direction.

US: How did it affect you to hear the kind of language, that word, that obviously a lot of gay youth hear every single day?
Ellen Pompeo: I'm not going to take the martyr position and say, "It hurts me deeply" because I don't know what it is to bear that burden. I don't know what it is to be gay. I don't know that struggle and pain, or, hopefully, that happiness and joy. I don't know that experience. But what I do see is my friends who are hurt by that language.

US: And when T.R. Knight came out, it was an amazing positive thing. It puts a really good role model out there.
Ellen Pompeo: I have to say, when T.R. came out, I did cry. Such tremendous courage. Most people don't have to come out like that.

US: Is your fiance, Chris Ivery, as open minded as you?
Ellen Pompeo: Yes, he grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the most liberal places on the planet. And he grew up with a white, Jewish mother and a black father, so he has had to deal with a lot of diversity issues as well. So we're very open minded.

US: Cher is famous for having said how, despite having tons of gay friends and fans, she didn't take it so well when Chastity came out of the closet. How would you feel if your child was gay?
Ellen Pompeo: Just fine. As long as my child was happy and healthy and hopefully could grow up and decorate my houses!

US: Do you want to have kids?
Ellen Pompeo: Maybe not kids. Maybe one.

US: Have you and Chris set a wedding date?
Ellen Pompeo: We have not.

Though Ellen Pompeo was on Ryan Seacrest's morning radio show on Friday to discuss her charity work, there was no escaping talk of her Isaiah Washington's shocking dismissal from Grey's Anatomy.

Pompeo also touched on Katherine Heigl's summer movie success and Grey's storylines for next year, but the good stuff came when Seacrest asked her about Washington and T.R. Knight's fates. Here are those highlights:

On Isaiah Washington's departure:
"I got a call late last night from my lawyer...and I woke up this morning and saw it...that's really all I know. I really can't comment on my reaction."

On whether she knew anything in advance:
"No. They're very secretive about things, for obvious reasons. I guess actors have big mouths. So I didn't really know what would happen, if anything. It's not really my business...You just have to roll with the punches."

On word that T.R. Knight has signed a contract to return:
"I certainly hope so. It's such an ensemble. The show works, I think, because all of us have such great chemistry together."

Well, except the cast and Washington, of course. Fans of the show are already in heated discussions about the decision on our message board.

We're used to seeing her in scrubs. But Ellen Pompeo cleans up nicely.

Seen here, the actress that portrays our favorite title character is wearing the same satin dress as Celine Dion. Oops!

You tell us: Who wears it better?