1 ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Had 2 Real-Life Pregnancies Written Into the Show
There are TV shows that have been running for so many seasons that it feels as though we’ve watched the characters grow up. Grey’s Anatomy, for example, has been running now for 18 seasons. We know the characters and we know the people who create these characters for the screen. We also get to see real-life enter into the fictional show. Sometimes we even get to see a real-life pregnancy written into a story.
Amelia has a real-life and TV pregnancy
In the fifth season of Private Practice, a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy, Amelia Shepherd, played by Caterina Scorsone, finds out she is pregnant with her boyfriend, Ryan, who struggles with addiction. Amelia vowed to get sober after relapsing with her boyfriend. Sadly, after their final binge together, Amelia discovers her boyfriend overdosed and died. She also learns she is pregnant with his child.
It wasn’t just Amelia who was pregnant on Private Practice. Scorsone was pregnant in real-life. According to In Style, when Scorsone got pregnant, Shonda Rhimes wrote her pregnancy into the show. Scorsone even announced her pregnancy the same day that Amelia announced hers on the show. Scorsone shared, “The news came out of left field and I think she decided she could use this for dramatic purposes … As an actress, it never feels like the right time. But once we knew what was happening, we were like, ‘This is perfect.'”
Amelia suffered trauma from her first pregnancy
As if losing her boyfriend to a drug overdose and then discovering she’s pregnant with his child isn’t enough, according to Distractify, Amelia discovers her child, whom she names Christopher, has an underdeveloped brain. Due to his affliction, Christopher would not be able to survive long after birth. Despite this Amelia chooses to carry Christopher to term so that she can donate his organs to research.
Carrying Christopher to term and losing him soon after birth left Amelia filled with grief and traumatized. This agony stayed with her and carried over into her relationship and short marriage with Owen Hunt. About how the memory of Christopher affected her relationship with Hunt, Scorsone explains, “She had a lot of trauma from the loss of baby Christopher that she hadn’t processed. Before [she and Owen] broke up, she wasn’t even able to say his name out loud, let alone share her pain with anyone, including Owen.”
The pain Amelia felt contributed to her relationship woes with Hunt due to her refusal to have more children. By the time she is dating Atticus Lincoln (aka Link), she was in a better place and more equipped to parent. She has healed more from her trauma. Her time spent with baby Leo and his mom Betty helped Amelia gain strength for her upcoming role as a mother.
And again, while Amelia is pregnant on Grey’s Anatomy, Scorsone is pregnant in real-life. She announced on Instagram with the rest of her family in a fun Addams Family-inspired picture. Fans had been speculating that Scorsone was pregnant along with her character, Amelia.
Scorsone has three children
Scorsone is not shy about sharing her motherhood and her children on social media. Her second child, Paloma, has Down Syndrome and Scorsone is perfectly comfortable talking about it online. She believes a disability doesn’t have to be a disadvantage and she wants her fans to understand that.
About Down Syndrome, Scorsone said, “I want to help people expand their understanding of what it is to love a person who isn’t ‘typical’ or who is living with a disability.” She continues, “Down syndrome is a genetic variation … There isn’t one particular way that a person should be to have value. Life with Pippa is one of the richest gifts our family has ever received.”
