The Shocking Reason Shonda Rhimes’ Daughter Hasn’t Watched ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Grey’s Anatomy has a dedicated fandom that is still growing. But Shonda Rhimes said her oldest daughter refuses to be a fan. Here is the shocking reason why she hasn’t watched the hit show.
Shonda Rhimes talks being a mother while working on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Rhimes became a mother by adopting in 2002, and she told Oprah Winfrey what led to that decision. “I’d rented a farmhouse in Vermont, and I took a navel-gazing trip to think about my life,” the show creator said. “The day after I arrived, 9/11 hit. So I was sitting in the middle of nowhere, watching the whole terrible thing unfold on CNN. When I finally turned off the television, I thought, ‘Well, if the world’s going to end, what are all the things I’ve ever wanted to do?’ I went home and hired an adoption attorney.”
The boss also talked about how motherhood affected her hiring decisions and made a no-a**hole policy. “I don’t want to hire anybody I can’t stand being around,” she said. “I basically live here. My daughter comes here to play. I don’t want to deal with actors, writers, or production people who make me crazy.”
Years later, Rhimes is no longer writing for Grey’s Anatomy. But the medical show is still going strong, and her oldest child still hasn’t watched it.
Shonda Rhimes says her daughter hasn’t watched ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Rhimes has three children, but it sounds like none of them watch the show. “My youngest daughters are 8 and 9, so they’re far too young to watch it or even care, which is good,” the show creator told WSJ Magazine.
Her oldest child is very aware of the medical show and has an unexpected reaction to it. “I have a 19-year-old who finds it horrifying that I’ve written a show that all of her friends have seen multiple times. And so she has never seen it. And I have to say, I think that might be the best compliment ever,” she said.
“I think about it like, her mother wrote a show that tells all her friends what to think about love and sex,” the writer continued. “So she’s not interested in watching it, and I think that that’s a very good thing.”
Rhimes is ‘embarrassed’ for television when it comes to the legacy of her show
Grey’s Anatomy is still going strong. But Rhimes has talked about how it’ll be remembered in television history.
“Sadly, I think the legacy might simply just be that we made it possible for more people of color to have jobs on camera on television, which makes me embarrassed for television,” she told Variety.
Rhimes did do color-blind casting for Grey’s Anatomy. She went on to have Black leads in her later shows Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, which was rare for network television.
