Eric Dane has a concept about his exit from “Gray’s Anatomy.”
The 51-year-old actor appeared on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Knowledgeable” podcast final week and opened up about why he was fired from the hit ABC collection in 2012.
“I didn’t go away a lot as I feel I used to be let go,” he stated.
Eric Dane in “Gray’s Anatomy” Season 3. ©ABC/Courtesy Everett Assortment
Dane performed the good-looking and charismatic Dr. Mark Sloan on “Gray’s Anatomy” from Seasons 3 to 9. His character was killed within the lethal airplane crash alongside Chyler Leigh’s Lexie Gray.
The actor stated that he was “struggling” with medication and alcohol dependancy on the time that he was written off the present.
“They didn’t let me go due to that, though it undoubtedly didn’t assist,” he stated.
Eric Dane on the “Unhealthy Boys: Trip or Die” premiere on Might 30, 2024. Selection by way of Getty Pictures
Sandra Oh, Ellen Pompeo and Eric Dane in “Gray’s Anatomy.” Disney Basic Leisure Content material by way of Getty Pictures
“I used to be beginning to change into — as most of those actors who’ve spent vital time on the present — you begin to change into very costly for the community,” Dane continued. “And the community is aware of that the present goes to do what it’s going to do regardless of who they carry on it — so long as they’ve their Gray they had been high-quality.”
“I wasn’t the identical man that they had employed, so I had understood,” he added.
Regardless of dropping his job on the present, Dane had nothing however reward for creator Shonda Rhimes.
“She protected us fiercely,” he stated. “She protected us publicly, she protected us privately… I really like Shonda Rhimes and she or he protected me however I used to be most likely fired. It wasn’t ceremoniously like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was similar to, ‘You’re not coming again.’ “
Eric Dane in “Gray’s Anatomy” in 2005. ©ABC/Courtesy Everett Assortment
Dane stated he was sober for a number of years earlier than he was forged on “Gray’s Anatomy.” Nevertheless, he relapsed throughout the Writers Guild of America Strike in 2007.
“Should you take the entire eight years I used to be on ‘Gray’s Anatomy,’ I used to be f–ked up longer than I used to be sober and that was when issues began going sideways for me,” he recalled.
Dane went into rehab in 2011 for an dependancy to painkillers following a sports activities harm.
“Actor Eric Dane voluntarily checked himself right into a remedy facility to assist him get off of ache remedy that he was prescribed for a sports activities harm that he suffered over the current hiatus,” his rep stated on the time, per CBS Information. “He experiences again to work subsequent week. Enterprise as traditional.”
Eric Dane, Justina Machado, and Chris Conner in “Gray’s Anatomy.” ©ABC/Courtesy Everett Assortment
He introduced his exit from the beloved TV collection the next yr.
“I’m extraordinarily grateful to everybody at ‘Gray’s,’ ABC and Shondaland for the expertise and recollections I’ve had over the course of this run,” he stated in an announcement to TVLine on the time. “It has been fantastic to work alongside and study from a inventive power similar to Shonda Rhimes.”
Dane returned to the present for a visitor look on Season 17 in 2020. His character popped up in Meredith Gray’s (Ellen Pompeo) dream sequence when she was in a coma from COVID-19.
“Gray’s Anatomy” has been on the air since 2005. The present was renewed for Season 21 which is able to premiere in September.