Photo: Eric McCandless/ABC via Getty
While hosting a Mamarazzi event with the MOMS in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the actress opened up about how she discussed her emotional exit from the long-running medical drama with her kids. (She also shares sonMicah Emmanuel, 6, with husband Peter Lanfer.)
“I definitely did some crying and they have seen it in my house,” said Drew, 37, who waswritten off the show this past spring. “In fact, my daughter is such a beautiful empath that if she sees one sniffle, she’s already on me stroking my hair. That’s just who she is — she’s just very sweet.”
Jerritt Clark/The MOMS
As for how she explained the situation?
“We are allowed to feel what we need to feel — it’s a big thing I try to tell my kids: Do not stuff those feelings,” she continued. “Especially my son — I just want to encourage him to be able to feel, especially as a little boy growing into a man. I want him to not feel shame in feeling things.”
RELATED VIDEO: Grey’s Anatomy: Jessica Capshaw, Sarah Drew To Exit After Season 14
Drew played Dr. April Kepner for nine seasons. In March, news broke that Drew andJessica Capshaw, who portrayed Dr. Arizona Robbins for 10 seasons, wereexiting the showat the end of season 14.
Uproar on social media followed, with many speculating that cuts were made to compensate for series leadEllen Pompeo‘s$20 million salary.Pompeo, 48,vigorously denied that, and series creator Shonda Rhimes and executive producer/showrunner Krista Vernoff both stressed that the actresses’ exits werestrictly creative decisions.
“I was told that the show had too many characters and that they needed to downsize because they couldn’t service all of the characters effectively,” Drewtold theHollywood Reporterin August. “They didn’t want any of us to be left in the background and not getting much of a story. Because there were so many series regulars, they needed to downsize and to find some characters that they felt like they could tie up their stories well.”
source: people.com
