Ellen Pompeo Says She Went Through an 'Emo' Phase in High School: 'Didn't Go to the Prom or Do Any of That' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

The youngest of six siblings raised in a “very blue-collar, working-class Boston neighborhood,”Ellen Pompeowas 4 when her mom, Kathleen, died from an accidental painkiller overdose. As a kid, “I remember myself being really sad all the time,” the actress, 55, tellsPEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “But then I see pictures of myself, and I was always laughing and looked really happy. So I don’t know if I’ve just always been an actress.”

In high school Pompeo “was not popular. I definitely wasn’t a cool-girl cheerleader with big boobs,” she recalls. “I didn’t go to the prom or do any of that.” Her interest in acting was piqued after being “mesmerized” seeing theRocketteswith her aunt at Radio City Music Hall. “And I remember watchingMichelle Pfeifferin movies and saying, ‘Who is that, and how do I do that?’ ”

Ellen Pompeo in her high school year book.Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library

After high school graduation Pompeo worked in Miami and New York City as a bartender before booking commercials and independent films. She won her first television role onLaw & Orderin 1996. Smaller parts in films followed until her breakthrough in 2003’s hit comedyOld School. Her intended career path in movies took a sharp turn when she was offered the role of Meredith Grey. Premiering in March 2005,Grey’s Anatomybecame an overnight sensation and shot Pompeo to instant stardom.

For more of Pompeo’s exclusive interview, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE on newsstands Friday.

Her 2017 contract negotiation also included a share of the show’s profits and commitments for her production company Calamity Jane. The notoriously private Pompeo was vocal about her fight — and victory — in the media. “Men talk about whatever they want, and we’ve been told it’s uncouth to talk about money,” she explains. “Or if you complain, you are ‘difficult’ or ‘crazy.’ ”

Ellen Pompeo.JONNY MARLOW

JONNY MARLOW

The actress also hoped her words would empower other women “who want to speak up and show up authentically about inequities, wherever it is,” she adds. “I sit in a seat of enormous privilege. As a White woman, as a working actress, as a person who’s super well-compensated. If people that sit with privilege can’t use it to better the lives of others, you really don’t deserve it.”

Ellen Pompeo with Imogen Faith Reid in ‘Good American Family’.Disney

Disney

“It was like, ‘Wow, this is intense. How would we pull this off?’ And I said, like I say often, ‘This isn’t for me,’ ” recalls Pompeo, who plays adoptive mother Kristine Barnett. “And then everyone around me convinces me that this is something you definitely should do.”

Good American Family, costarringThe Morning Show’s Mark Duplass and Imogen Faith Reid premieres March 19 on Hulu.

source: people.com