Ellen Pompeo Tears Up in TV Interview About Grey’s Anatomy’s Impact on LGBT+ Youth

Ellen Pompeo has teared up in a viral TV interview about Grey’s Anatomy’s impact on LGBT+ teenagers, reports Metro.

The 48-year-old actress spoke to Ellen DeGeneres about the legacy of her mega hit show and the impact it’s still having.

“Everywhere I go, whether it’s Italy, whether it’s France, London, Kansas, [there are] people that come up to me with tears in their eyes and tell me how meaningful the show is to them,” she said.

“The first episode I directed, a teenager was in the show and he was gay, and he played a gay character on my show.

“After we had filmed the whole entire episode, he said to me: ‘You know, my whole life, I’ve watched this show with my parents, and I’ve sort of used the show as a way to tell my parents that I was gay, and to show my parents that it’s okay, that I’m not different, there’s nothing wrong with me.

“Grey’s really helped my parents to understand what having a gay son meant, and that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

Holding back tears, Pompeo continued her story, saying: “‘And for my parents to now see me as an actor, getting a part on this show, has just been everything.'

“So I gotta keep doing it, man, because we’re touching lives and making a difference.”

Pompeo recently won an award from LGBT+ group GLSEN and has been an outspoken advocate on gay rights.

Grey’s Anatomy has a long history of LGBT+ characters, with Sara Ramirez’s Callie Torres holding the record for the longest-running LGBT+ character on TV.

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