Kevin McKidd is showing his gratitude for the cast and crew of Grey’s Anatomy after the loss of his father Neil.
The 51-year-old actor thanked his costars for giving him time to grieve following his father’s death last month in a heartfelt Instagram post.
“Words cannot express my love for these fine, bright, talented, passionate, giving and above all -kind people,” he wrote alongside a photo of him with his costars Niko Terho, Harry Shum Jr., Alexis Floyd, Midori Francis and Adelaide Kane. “They truly kept me going through shooting tonight’s episode of @greysabc.”
“The entire cast and crew rallied around me at this time of my life and held me up and made it possible to carry on,” he added.
McKidd, who also directed the Nov. 21 episode, went on to explain why the storyline — which follows the death of Mika Yasuda’s (Midori Francis) sister Chloe (Julia Rose) — was especially poignant to him amid his own personal tragedy.
“The themes of grief, love, acceptance and kindness in tonight’s episode sort of merged with my lived experience as I lost my dad while we filmed it,” he shared.
He also gave special shout-outs to showrunner Meg Marinis for allowing him to “travel home to my family and reschedule” and Debbie Allen for “jumping in and having my back for those few days of shooting I had to be away.”
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McKidd concluded his message by dedicating the episode to his late father, saying, “Even though none of us (apart from maybe Shonda;)) owns an episode of our show, I would still humbly like to personally dedicate my parts of tonight’s episode to my cheeky wonderful and fun loving Dad, Neil McKidd.”
“Enjoy it and hold onto the ones you love and … call, FaceTime or WhatsApp your parents if you’re lucky enough to still have them,” he added.
McKidd announced his father’s death on social media on Oct. 24.
“Heartbroken today but grateful for the years of love and laughter we all had together,” he wrote. “Thank you for making mum so happy for the 56 years you both had together. Love you dad, always.”
The post featured a snapshot of his father smiling for the camera, a black and white photo of his parents together and his dad sitting in a garden. The final picture showed McKidd wearing a kilt alongside Neil and his mother Kathleen.
McKidd’s Grey’s Anatomy costars shared their condolences in the comment section.
“Thoughts and prayers for you and your whole family,” Jason George shared.
Anthony Hill added, “We love you Kev 🙏🏾❤️.”
Grey’s Anatomy airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.