Grey’s Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey reflects on leaving the hit medical drama

Grey’s Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey has said he felt it was “time to walk away” from the hit series after leaving the show in 2015.

The 60-year-old played Dr Derek Shepherd, known to fans as McDreamy, in the US medical drama which follows the lives of surgical interns and their supervisors at Seattle’s Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital.

Dempsey was a fan-favourite character and an original cast member since the show first aired in 2005, and left during its 11th series.

Speaking about his shock exit, the star told ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show: “It was time to walk away.

“I had the opportunity to do a full season in the WEC, which is the (FIA) World Endurance Championship. That was my love.”

Dempsey left the show after almost a decade and went on to participate in the WEC, an international sportscar racing competition, achieving first place in a six-hour-long endurance race held in Japan.

He added: “For me, it’s (Grey’s Anatomy) been a blessing. It’s given me a wonderful platform.

“I think the best thing that has come out of it is that a lot of young people have gone into the medical profession because of it – I think that’s a great thing.”

Dempsey said that despite the popularity of Emmy-winning show, he has tried to keep it away from his children, who he described as “very direct” with their opinions.

He said: “I didn’t really expose them to the show (Grey’s Anatomy). I kept them as far away as possible.”

He went on to say that the popularity of the hit medical drama helped him with his charity work, which has seen him open a cancer treatment centre in his hometown in Lewiston, Maine.

According to its website, The Dempsey Centre provides free holistic treatment to cancer patients including nutritional care, counselling, fitness classes and integrative therapies.

Dempsey said: “It was inspired by my own mother’s cancer journey – she had ovarian cancer over 12 recurrences. We don’t treat the disease, we treat the person holistically and the visibility of the show (Grey’s Anatomy) helped me do that.”

He added: “You come out of surgery and your treatment, you may be cured but you’re not healed and that’s where we come in.”

Dempsey also spoke about being named the “sexiest man alive” by People magazine in 2023, and called it “quite a shock” at his age.

The actor is known for playing heartthrobs on-screen, and has starred in a string of romantic comedies as the love interest such as Enchanted (2007), Made Of Honor (2008) and more recently, Bridget Jones’ Baby (2016).

Dempsey currently stars in new US crime drama Memory Of A Killer, where he leads a double life as a family man and a hit-man.

The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday at 9.25pm on ITV1 and ITVX.