Dempsey joined ‘Grey’s’ in the first season, which aired in 2005, and left in a shocking twist in season 11
Patrick Dempsey is sharing how his popularity on Grey’s Anatomy caused him to become more introverted.
In an interview published on Monday, March 16, the 60-year-old actor spoke to The Hollywood Reporter more than a decade after he left Grey’s Anatomy as Dr. Derek Shepherd (aka McDreamy), a love interest to series protagonist Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo.
“I think in the heat of the success of [Grey’s], it really infringed upon our ability to go out to be social and to be private, and that’s kept us at home a lot more,” Dempsey said of himself and his family. “I’m much more of a homebody. I’m aware of my responsibility when I go out. I want to be present, and if people come up to me, I want to make sure I engage and talk to them and greet them or take a picture.”
He continued: “It’s sometimes very difficult with the family, because we could be having this intimate moment and sometimes people cross the line. And they don’t mean to be rude, but it’s very hard. That’s part of the position you’re in [as a public figure], and you have to accept that — and they have over time.”
His kids, he added, now “understand the role, and when they come out with me now, they have much greater appreciation of, like, ‘Oh, what is important when you go out?’ They’re learning at this age. It’s better than when they were younger.”
Dempsey, who is currently starring on Fox’s Memory of a Killer, joined Grey’s in the first season, which aired in 2005. In a shocking twist, his character Derek got killed off in season 11, when he was struck by a truck just after saving strangers from an earlier car wreck.
He made a reappearance on the show in 2020, during a dream sequence in the season 17 premiere.
Speaking to THR, Dempsey said Derek “will always be a part of my life.”
“I accepted that a long time ago. It’s nice to be able to go and do something else — and to be allowed to do something else — and hopefully the audience will accept me and come along on these new journeys as an actor to explore different types of characters,” he added.
