The adage goes that eating an apple daily keeps the doctor at bay; however, this isn’t the case when it comes to sunflower seeds and TSA screenings. To illustrate, actress Ellen Pompeo shared her encounter with airport security regarding her travel snack of expensive organic sunflower seeds from Erewhon.
“I had a bag of sunflower seeds, which were likely the most costly sunflower seeds money could buy,” Grey’s Anatomy star Pompeo humorously recounted to Travel + Leisure about her shopping experience at the upscale organic L.A.-based grocery store. “They detained me for an hour and even called in the bomb squad. I was confused, thinking it was a prank!”
In reality, they weren’t joking around. And no, their interest wasn’t solely about her flight meal.
“They suspected it was a chemical on the packaging of these pricey, fancy, organic, clean sunflower seeds,” she clarified. “My in-flight protein source!
Despite Pompeo stating that she could just toss away the seeds, she pointed out that she had to wait until the bomb squad completed their evaluation before doing so.
The actress further shared with the magazine, “I almost missed my flight! Can you imagine? I was messaging my publicist saying, ‘There’s a chance I won’t board this plane, and you’ll never guess why.'”
To sum up, the incident certainly wasn’t a dreamy situation for Pompeo. Yet, this wasn’t the first time she made headlines due to an unexpected revelation.
Who wouldn’t remember the time she mentioned that Denzel Washington “let loose fiercely” on her during an improvised line while directing an episode of Grey’s Anatomy? Alternatively, who can overlook the fact that she confessed to having missed many episodes of her own long-running medical drama series?
Curious about more truthful disclosures from Pompeo? You don’t have to call Dr. Meredith Grey for advice. Just continue reading instead!
Ellen Pompeo’s journey to the airport turned chaotic when TSA officers seized her expensive sunflower seeds. In an interview with Travel + Leisure in May 2025, she reminisced about the incident. “I had a bag of sunflower seeds, premium organic ones from Erewhon, making them the priciest sunflower seeds one could buy,” Pompeo explained.
The TSA agents kept her for an hour and even brought in the bomb squad. Pompeo was puzzled, wondering if it was a prank. “They said it was likely a chemical on the packaging of these high-end, fancy, organic sunflower seeds,” she added. “My meal replacement on the plane!”
Despite her offer to discard the seeds and continue with her travel plans, the TSA agent insisted she stay put while they investigated everything thoroughly. “I almost missed my flight,” Pompeo disclosed. “It was like nothing anyone would believe! I was texting my publicist saying, ‘I might not make it on this plane, and you’ll never guess why.’
For nearly two decades, Pompeo portrayed Dr. Meredith Grey, an experience she won’t easily forget, especially the public scrutiny over her body when she first ventured into Hollywood. In an interview with People magazine in February 2025, she confided that she felt extremely skinny, which people often misconstrued as an eating disorder. The attention surrounding her slim figure was overwhelming, and it sparked a lot of criticism.
“Back then,” she explained, “girls could be beautiful and thin, but unfortunately, comments about women’s bodies were common. I had very low self-esteem because people were so critical of my appearance.”
The tabloids, in particular, would make cruel remarks, she recalled. The anxiety she felt on red carpets was palpable, as the comments about her weight and body weighed heavily on her mind. She expressed relief that perhaps things have changed for the better today, as it was far more brutal 20 years ago.
In a 2016 episode of Grey’s Anatomy titled “The Sound of Silence,” Denzel Washington stepped into the director’s chair. However, Ellen Pompeo shared in a 2021 podcast episode that their collaboration wasn’t always smooth sailing.
On her podcast Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo, she described the experience as “amazing,” but also shared an intriguing story about her encounter with Washington.
The tension seemed to arise when Pompeo, during a scene with a castmate, improvised a line that wasn’t part of the script. Washington reacted strongly, saying, “I’m the director. Don’t you tell him what to do.”
Passionate and fiery, and that’s where you get the magic and that’s where you get the good stuff.”
Washington, in response, downplayed the incident when speaking to Variety in 2022, suggesting he doesn’t remember it clearly before adding, “But it’s all good.
Despite over 400 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy having been broadcast, Pompeo hasn’t managed to watch them all. In fact, she stated during a 2022 podcast episode that she doesn’t remember every single one, and has only seen a small fraction. She did mention, however, that when she directed some episodes, she went back and watched a few older ones.
If someone were to inquire about Pompeo’s thoughts on certain storylines from “Grey’s Anatomy,” she might express that she doesn’t always have control over the character’s decisions. In an interview with Variety in April 2025, she clarified that sometimes writers prioritize a plot before considering if it aligns with the Meredith Grey character she has developed.
In fact, there was one storyline earlier in the year where Pompeo strongly disagreed with a decision made by her character, Dr. Meredith Grey. Over the course of two episodes, Meredith uncovers that Dr. Evynn Moore (Lena Waithe) had concealed her wife’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis to become eligible for a needed liver transplant.
Pompeo shared that her issue with this storyline was that the Meredith Grey she has crafted would have been more about working together to game the system and get Moore the liver, rather than reporting Moore for lying and potentially denying her a transplant. As Meredith had spent 20 years bending the rules to do what’s right, helping and healing people, Pompeo felt that this decision didn’t align with her character’s established values.
Shortly after Ellen Pompeo met her husband Chris Ivery at a Whole Foods in 2002, she started filming the pilot episode of Grey’s Anatomy and her life took an unexpected turn. On a 2021 episode of Ladies First With Laura Brown, Pompeo joked about how clueless Ivery was about what he was getting into. Watching his wife kiss costar Patrick Dempsey (Dr. McDreamy) didn’t make things any easier.
“In the beginning, it was tough for him,” Pompeo explained. “He said, ‘This isn’t what I signed up for. You’re kissing a guy. You go to work and make out. I like Patrick and everything. He’s a good guy, but really? You actresses are crazy. I’m supposed to put up with this?'”
The paparazzi added to the strain, but Ivery proved to be a strong support system. “It was a lot for him at first,” she admitted. “He was truly a trooper. He is my favorite person.”
To maintain some semblance of normalcy, Pompeo and Iver established boundaries between her work life on Grey’s Anatomy and their home life. “Chris never watched the show,” she revealed in a March 2025 episode of Call Her Daddy. “That helped him cope better.
In addition to dealing with criticism about her relationship with Pompeo and their on-screen romance, they also encountered more profound challenges. For instance, Pompeo mentioned in an interview on Call Her Daddy, “The backlash against him, the digging up of his past, and the focus on things he did were particularly intense for me.” She continued by stating that young Black men in America aren’t provided with the same opportunities as others. Furthermore, the couple frequently encountered hate due to their interracial relationship. Pompeo added that the racial aspect of their relationship was something unwanted by him, and she felt the media was unfair towards him because of their relationship. She also mentioned receiving racist, hateful, and violent mail due to their relationship, which ABC received as well.
When Pompeo discovered that her co-star Dempsey was earning more than she was, she felt it was only fair to voice her concerns. As she stated, Dempsey’s higher salary wasn’t due to him not deserving it; rather, he had been a well-established star before joining Grey’s Anatomy, while Pompeo was relatively unknown at the time.
“I wasn’t saying he didn’t deserve that money,” she clarified on Call Her Daddy. “It’s just that I was the namesake of the show, and I deserved the same pay. It was harder to get that recognition.” She added that she wasn’t resentful about Dempsey’s earnings; instead, she felt underappreciated in comparison.
After examining the series data and discussing the matter with show creator Shonda Rhimes, Pompeo took a stand for higher compensation. In 2018, The Hollywood Reporter disclosed that her contract included $20 million annually—$575,000 per episode—alongside various other benefits such as bonuses, equity points, producing fees, spinoff series earnings, pilot commitments, and office space for her production company.
Since its debut in 2005, Pompeo has been a significant part of the series. However, in 2023, after a remarkable run of 19 seasons, she opted to reduce her presence on the program.
In a 2020 episode of Jemele Hill’s Unbothered podcast, Pompeo expressed her desire for a content and fulfilling home life over a career. Having endured an unhappy childhood, she cherished her loving husband and three children, viewing them as essential elements to mend the void in her life. Consequently, she made the choice to prioritize financial gain over pursuing additional acting roles.
Despite this shift, Pompeo remains engaged with the show. She occasionally appears in episodes, contributes voiceover work, and functions as an executive producer. There are no plans for her to completely sever ties with the program.
In April 2025, Pompeo clarified her intentions to EL PAÍS, stating that completely abandoning the series would be irrational both emotionally and financially. The show was streamed more than a billion times in 2024, generating substantial revenue for the companies involved. If Pompeo were to withdraw entirely, she would not reap any benefits from her 20 years of labor. Emotionally, the series holds significant value for many people, and Pompeo wishes to maintain a sense of gratitude towards it.
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2025-06-08 10:18