Eric Dane has spoken out about his departure from Grey’s Anatomy.
The Euphoria star, who is optimistic that his Emmy-winning show will return for another season, revealed that there were several reasons why he was written out of the show.
The handsome 51-year-old actor played Dr. Mark Sloan, aka McSteamy, from 2006 to 2012.
“I wasn’t gone as much as I think they let me go,” he told Dax Shepherd on the Armchair Experts Podcast.
Asked about his struggle with alcohol and drug addiction during his tenure, Dane said: ‘I was struggling. ‘They wouldn’t let me go because of that, although it definitely didn’t help.’
Eric Dane, 51, opened up about his departure from Grey’s Anatomy in 2012 after six seasons on the hit medical drama.
The Bad Boys: Ride or Die star said he believes the final result led to his departure.
“I was starting to become, like most of these actors who have spent significant time on the show, very expensive to the network,” he said.
“And the network knows that the show is going to do what it’s going to do regardless of who’s holding it; as long as they have their Gray, they’ll be fine.”
The character Mark Sloan died after being injured in a plane crash that took the life of his on-screen love, Dr. Lexie Grey, played by Chyler Leigh.
The actor, who had been sober for several years when he was cast on the show, admitted that he relapsed during the Writers Guild of America strike in 2007.
“I wasn’t the same guy they hired, so I understood when they fired me and (show creator) Shonda Rhimes was really great,” he said.
‘She protected us fiercely. She protected us publicly, she protected us privately,’ he explained.
“I love Shonda Rhimes and she protected me, but I probably got fired. It wasn’t like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was like, ‘You’re not coming back.'”
The actor, who played Dr. Mark Sloan, aka McSteamy, said there were a variety of reasons that led to his exit on the Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepherd.
The actor, who had been sober for several years when he was hired for the show, admitted that he relapsed during the Writers Guild of America strike in 2007. “I wasn’t the same guy they had hired, so I understood when they fired me,” he said.
The Bad Boys: Ride or Die star said he thinks the final outcome also led to his departure. “I was starting to get, like most of these actors who have spent a long time on the show, they start to get very expensive for the network,” he said.
“If you take the eight years I was on Grey’s Anatomy, I was fucked up longer than I was sober and that’s when things started going bad for me.”
He added that the sudden fame of the hit show may have contributed to him falling off the wagon.
“It was overwhelming and I think I just wanted to pretend like I wasn’t and that I was comfortable with it. Act like I had been there, but I hadn’t been there,” he explained.
Dane returned for a cameo in season 17, as did Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. Derek Shepher, when Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Gray was in a Covid coma.
The only full-time original characters on Grey’s Anatomy are Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.). Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) is now a recurring character instead of a series regular.
Dane currently stars in Bad Boys: Ride or Die (pictured in Los Angeles in May)
Dane returned for a guest appearance, alongside Chyler Leigh in season 17, when Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) was in a coma due to Covid.
Other actors whose characters had died also returned for cameos, including Patrick Dempsey as Meredith’s late husband Dr. Derek Shepherd, TR Knight as Dr. George O’Malley, and Giacomo Gianniotti as Dr. Andrew DeLuca.
The only full-time original characters on Grey’s Anatomy are Chandra Wilson’s Dr. Miranda Bailey and James Pickens Jr.’s Dr. Richard Webber. Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Gray is now a recurring character, rather than a regular character.
ABC has renewed the show for a 21st season.
