Ellen Pompeo: I Caught 'Flak' for Discussing My $20 Million 'Grey's Anatomy' Salary

In January, Ellen Pompeo opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about negotiating for her $20 million Grey's Anatomy salary. "I'm 48 now, so I've finally gotten to the place where I'm OK asking for what I deserve, which is something that comes only with age," she said at the time. "It's my show; I'm the number one."

Pompeo was quickly applauded by women on Twitter—and beyond—for being unapologetic about her salary and knowing her worth. However, the actress admits that double standards between men and women made talking about her paycheck difficult. “That was a tricky situation because you don’t normally want to talk about money and talk about your salaries. It’s admired and celebrated when a male athlete does it, and I think that’s precisely the reason why I decided to do it," she explained to Entertainment Tonight this week. “I caught a little flak in certain areas for doing it. That’s OK, I can take a couple knocks. I’ll get back up."

Pompeo has zero regrets about how she handled her monumental announcement—largely because it's inspired other women. “The thing that’s been more meaningful is the women who have found it empowering and helpful," Pompeo said. "I can’t tell you the amount of women who have approached me and just want to hug me and thank me for the audacity to be bold and maybe even a little crass, but authentic and explain my journey and my shortcomings, as well as my successes—has made it all worthwhile."

Unfortunately, this isn't the only controversy surrounding Pompeo's $20 million payday. Shortly after the story broke, she had to shoot down rumors that her salary forced her fellow Grey's Anatomy's cast members Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew off the show. "[That's] absolutely not true," Pompeo said in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres. "There’s a few problems that you encounter doing a show for 14 seasons. One of them is the writers have a really hard time creatively thinking up new stories for all these characters. I think we have 16 regular cast members, and I think it’s always sad when we lose people for whatever reason. Whether they want to go or don’t want to go, it doesn’t make it any easier."