There's a “McSteamy” answer to why Eric Dane left the hit series “Grey's Anatomy” in dramatic fashion in 2012.
The actor, who played beloved plastic surgeon Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan, says that when he booked the hit ABC show hosted by Patrick Dempsey and Ellen Pompeo, he had been “sober for three or four years.”
“I was alert and I knew what was reality and what wasn't,” she shared on the “Armchair Expert” podcast with actor Dax Shepard. “And I was able to differentiate between the two. And I was able to conceptualize what it was, hold it in place, enjoy it, dip into it every now and then and come back.”
'GREY'S ANATOMY' STAR ERIC DANE ENTERS REHABILITATION FOR ANALESTICS ADDICTION
Eric Dane was first introduced on “Grey's Anatomy” as Dr. Mark Sloan in the second season. He became a series regular in the third season. (Bob DAmico/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“I guess I didn't handle it very well,” said the actor, now 51. “Because if you take into account the eight years I spent on 'Grey's Anatomy,' I was on drugs more than I was sober. And that's when things started to go wrong for me.”
Dane joined the show as a series regular in season three after his character created a stir in a hot towel scene in season two.
Eric Dane made his debut in the second season wearing nothing but a towel. (Vivian Zink/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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Dane says he relapsed at some point during his time on the show while trying to manage the expectations of playing such a revered and longed-for character on television.
“It was overwhelming and I think I just wanted to pretend that I wasn't and that I was comfortable with it. Act like I had been there, but I hadn't,” he said. “It's very hard to swallow,” he said of fame.
Being labelled one of Hollywood's most popular TV stars wasn't all it seemed for Dane. “That was weird for me because I never saw myself like that, it was a real source of self-doubt,” he explained. “I felt fraudulent.”
Eric Dane was struggling with his sobriety while filming the show. (Gale Adler/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
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“My exterior did not match my interior,” he added.
His character died in the second episode of the ninth season, which aired in October 2012. In 2013, Dane told Entertainment Weekly that his departure was giving him the opportunity to explore other avenues. “'Grey's Anatomy' is a world, it's not about any particular actor and the stories were going in different directions. So it was an opportunity for me and I was interested in something different.”
But on the new podcast, Dane revealed to Shepard that he had actually been “fired” from the show.
Eric Dane says he was “fired” because of his salary. (Scott Garfield/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
“I didn't leave as much as I think they let me go,” he explained. “I was struggling. They wouldn't let me go because of that, although it definitely didn't help.” (Dane went to rehab in 2011 for a painkiller addiction.) “I was starting to get, like most of these actors who have spent a lot of time on a show, starting to get very expensive for the network. And the network knows that the show is going to do what it's going to do, regardless of who's keeping it. As long as they have their 'Grey's,' they're fine.”
“I wasn't the same guy they hired, so I understood when they fired me. And Caroline Thayer shonda [Rhimes] It was really great. She protected us fiercely. “She protected us publicly, she protected us privately.”
Eric Dane, pictured with Shonda Rhimes, Taye Diggs and James Pickens, says the “Grey's Anatomy” creator “protected” him. (Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage/Getty Images)
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“I love Shonda Rhimes and she protected me, but I probably got fired,” he admitted. “It wasn't like, 'You're fired.' It was like… you're not coming back.”
Rhimes previously told Entertainment Weekly that Dane “had been thinking” about leaving the show “for a while.” At the time, rumors circulated that Dane would not return due to budget cuts.
Dane returned to “Grey's Anatomy” in a dream sequence during season 17. The show aired its 20th season finale in May and has already been renewed for a 21st season.
