“I didn’t leave so much as I think I was let go,” Dane admitted of his time on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Eric Dane is looking back on his departure from Grey’s Anatomy.
During an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, the 51-year-old actor reflected on leaving the ABC medical drama after starring as Dr. Mark Sloan (a.k.a. McStreamy) for six seasons from 2006 to 2012.
“I didn’t leave so much as I think I was let go,” he admitted to host Dax Shepard.
When Shepard, 49, noted the actor was “struggling” with drug and alcohol addiction at that point, Dane responded, “I was struggling. They didn’t let me go because of that, although it definitely didn’t help.”
Dane clarified that he believes that he was let go from the series — which was renewed for a 21st season in April — due to financial reasons.
“I was starting to become — as most of these actors who have spent significant time on the show — you start to become very expensive for the network,” he claimed. “And the network knows that the show is going to do what it’s going to do irrespective of who they keep on it—as long as they have their Grey they were fine.”
He continued: “I wasn’t the same guy they had hired, so I had understood when I was let go and [show creator] Shonda [Rhimes] was really great.”
Dane went on to praise Rhimes’ handling of the situation, saying, “She protected us fiercely. She protected us publicly, she protected us privately… I love Shonda Rhimes and she protected me but I was probably fired. It wasn’t ceremoniously like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was just like, ‘You’re not coming back.'”
