Grey’s Anatomy has covered a lot of ground in its 19 seasons on ABC, and Shonda Rhimes never seemed afraid to push the boundaries of what was shown on network television. The cast — particularly in the earlier seasons — often found themselves in some risqué scenarios, and that overarching sex-positive atmosphere has presented something of an awkward situation for the actors, who now have teenage children. Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl recently reunited, and during their conversation they got real about scenes — and one in particular — that they didn’t want to watch with their daughters.
The steamy hookups have always been an important aspect of Grey’s Anatomy, which is part of the reason Katherine Heigl and Ellen Pompeo said they were surprised how many young fans watch the show. The Meredith Grey portrayer said she let her 13-year-old daughter Stella start watching after everyone else in her sixth-grade class had already seen it. Heigl, however, said she hasn’t introduced her own 13-year-old daughter Naleigh to the series yet, due in part to actions taken by her character Izzie Stevens in Season 5. They said (per Variety):
- Heigl: There would be scenes that I would be so embarrassed to be sitting next to her watching. I’d be like, ‘Can we fast forward this moment?’
- Pompeo: Yeah. This is sex with the ghost.
- Heigl: Yeah, that. The oral sex with the ghost while somebody else was watching in the room. I don’t know how I’d explain that.
They are, as any longtime Grey’s Anatomy fan knows, referring to the Season 5 storyline, in which Izzie had a brain tumor that caused her to have some pretty graphic hallucinations of her former fiancé, Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), whose Season 2 passing was one of Grey’s Anatomy’s most shocking deaths.
Ellen Pompeo had actually expressed very similar thoughts last year on her podcast Tell Me. In discussing why she hadn’t let her child watch yet, she said:
Listen, there's one scene, for sure, where a character — not me — had sex with a ghost. Had oral sex with a ghost. I'm pretty sure I just don't feel like having that conversation with my 12-year-old, you know?
It wasn’t just Izzie’s lusty fantasies that Ellen Pompeo was concerned about, and it wasn’t Meredith’s wilder nights either. The actress has also spoken about being “horrified” by her character’s “Pick me. Choose me. Love me,” monologue — which is such a bummer, given how iconic that scene is. It turns out that she didn’t have to worry, because Stella was apparently just as appalled to see her mother begging a man to love her as Pompeo was to film it.
Grey’s Anatomy is currently on hiatus, and with the ongoing WGA writer’s strike, fans may have to wait way longer than usual before Season 20 hits the 2023 TV schedule. In the meantime, though, you can relive all the ghost sex Grey’s has to offer, with the first 18 seasons available to stream with a Netflix subscription (Season 19 will be added June 17 and is currently available with a Hulu subscription.)
