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Ellen Pompeo is preparing for her final episodes on the hit show Grey's Anatomy and the star took to Instagram to share an emotional message with the show's dedicated fanbase.
“I am eternally grateful and humbled by the love and support you have all shown me, Meredith GREY and the show for 19 seasons!" the actress, who's been on the show since 2005, wrote. "Through it all….none of it …would have been possible without the best fans in the world.”
Pompeo announced her departure from the show this summer and thanked the fans for making the experience "so fun and ICONIC." She went on, "I love you madly and appreciate you right back. This isn’t your first time on the rollercoaster… you know the show must go on and I’ll definitely be back to visit."
While the actress may no longer be a member of the cast, she revealed that she will continue to be part of the show in other ways. “I’m an executive producer. I spent two decades of my career on [Grey’s Anatomy] — it’s my heart and soul. I’ll never truly be gone as long as [it’s] on the air," she told Deadline at the D23 Expo.
She also recently defended her former co-star Katherine Heigl after she spoke out against the show's grueling hours following her 2010 exit. "I remember Heigl said something on a talk show about the insane hours we were working — and she was 100% right,” she said on an episode of her podcast Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo. "Had she said that today, she’d be a complete hero. But she’s ahead of her time. [She] made a statement about our crazy hours and, of course, let’s slam a woman and call her ungrateful.”