In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Sarah Drew clarified how she really feels about being fired from Grey’s Anatomy in 2018.
“I lived a beautiful life as April Kepner for nine years on that show. I’m so grateful,” Drew, 44, told Us. “I have friendships that will last me a lifetime. I had my babies on that show in a total matriarchy where I was so well cared for. I have a platform, I have a voice all because of that show. I loved my time there. And also, I’d been there for a long time and I wouldn’t have left. And now I am directing and I’m producing and I’m writing, and I don’t think I’d be doing any of those things if I was still on the show. So it was a great gift, actually. But hard in the moment.”
Drew made headlines earlier this month after reflecting on her exit on Jessica Capshaw and Camilla Luddington‘s “Call It What It Is” podcast.
“We were unceremoniously let go in a way that felt really mean and unjust,” Drew said at the time, adding that it “felt like being fired from our family.” She went on to say that she now has “no attachment” to the show and is able to enjoy her guest appearances without any anxiety.
Her comments went viral, but Drew explained to Us that she really was trying to highlight how kind people were to her in the aftermath of her exit following nine years on the medical drama.
“I witnessed an explosion of love that was so enormous that I never would’ve seen had I not been fired in a way that felt very shocking to everybody across the board,” she told Us. “All I was trying to say was, ‘Oh, my gosh, people are so good in the midst of pain. There’s so much love when you have a moment of loss happen.’ I am such a believer in hunting for the beauty and hunting for the light, and I experienced it in such an epic way that I couldn’t stop talking about it.”
As for having “no attachment to the show,” the Everwood alum clarified that she meant she no longer had to worry about what would happen if she lost the role. “If I lose the job, I lose my livelihood,” she said of her previous mindset.
Having been fired and facing that fear, Drew now knows that she can survive and thrive without Grey’s Anatomy — and that confidence has made her guest appearances (she returned for one-off episodes in seasons 17 and 18) more enjoyable.
“When I just go back to visit, I don’t have that kind of attachment. I am just visiting. I have my whole other life. I have all this joy in all these other places. I’m not dependent on them for anything anymore,” Drew emphasized. “So there’s a freedom in that.”
Her “no attachment” comment certainly wasn’t about the character or even the show itself. “In terms of emotional attachment, I will always be attached to April and I’ll always be attached to the family of Grey’s Anatomy, always,” she said. “But in terms of needing that, needing the show for my survival or for my livelihood, that’s what I meant.”
Since hanging up her stethoscope, Drew has not only continued her acting career but also started writing and producing. Her third script, A Carpenter Christmas Romance, is set to premiere on Lifetime later this year. Meanwhile, she serves as an executive producer on Mistletoe Murders, her new Hallmark TV show (premiering October 31) in which she plays a Christmas store owner investigating local murders.
Reporting by Christina Garibaldi
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