Sarah Drew is reflecting on the time she was let go from Grey’s Anatomy after being on the show for nine seasons.
Drew played Dr. April Kepner and exited the ABC drama series after Season 14 when her option was not picked up alongside Jessica Capshaw.
During an appearance on the Call It What It Is podcast, co-hosted by Drew’s former co-stars Capshaw and Camilla Luddington, Drew explained how she felt about leaving the show.
“[I] was unceremoniously let go in a way that felt mean and unjust, and because of that, the outpouring of love was so enormous it was like you were sitting there watching people [eulogize you],” Drew said.
She gave an interview to Vulture following her exit in 2018, in which she likened getting cut from the show to “attending [my] own funeral.”
After Deadline broke the news that Drew and Capshaw were exiting the medical drama, Drew took to social media to address her fans.
“I know you’re sad. I’m sad too,” Drew wrote on the X, formerly known as Twitter. “I haven’t really had the time to process this information. I’ve been with it for less than 48 hours, so I’m not ready to say my thank yous and give an all encompassing statement about my 9 years here.”
Drew since has returned to Grey’s Anatomy to reprise her role of April and says that coming back was “freeing,” adding, “I have no attachment to [the show] at all. … I had zero anxiety [going back because] I don’t need anything from anyone on that set anymore. They’re not responsible for my livelihood anymore. They’re not responsible for my success or my joy… I’m like, ‘Hey! This is a fun spot to come visit.’”
During the same interview, Drew revealed that her character originally was supposed to have a one-night stand with Eric Dane’s Mark Sloan.
“Before they made my character love Jesus and a virgin, there’s a scene where Sloan and Reed [Nora Zehetner] have sex, a random one-night stand. That was supposed to be me originally. It was supposed to be April,” Drew recalled. “April was supposed to have some random one-off with Sloan, and it was in the original production draft [of the script], and then they changed it. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but then they changed their mind.”