Grey’s Anatomy’s Sarah Drew says her exit felt “mean and unfair.”

Sarah Drew looks back on how she felt when she said goodbye Grey’s Anatomy after appearing on the series for nine seasons.

The actress who played Dr. April Kepner was cast after season 14 in 2018 along with Jessica Capshaw, who played Dr. Arizona Robbins played, fired from the ABC medical drama. But shortly after her exit Grey’s Anatomyis the short series B team – which Drew directed – received an Emmy nomination.

“We were summarily dismissed in a way that felt mean and unfair, and because of that the love was so enormous, it was like sitting there and watching people.” [eulogize you]” Drew said on a recent episode of Call it like it is Podcast co-hosted by Capshaw and Camilla Luddington.

In a previous interview with vultureshe compared her experience celebrating the Emmy nomination after leaving the show to “Participate [my] own funeral.” And while her “confidence was somewhat shaken by the dismissal,” Drew said The Hollywood Reporter In 2018, she finally realized that the nomination was a “profound validation” of her talents.

“Being nominated after the fact made me think, ‘I don’t have to worry about anything or shake my confidence,'” the actress said at the time. “Not only am I pursuing my career as an actor, but I’m now entering the world as a director and producer, and the world is so wide open to me.” Above all, the last few weeks after my final episodes have been a really beautiful rebirth and a really exciting time .”

Drew’s exit from Grey’s Anatomy was a surprise not only for the actress but also for the fans of the show. She also told it before THR The reason for their firing was because “the show had too many characters and they had to downsize because they couldn’t handle all the characters effectively.” They didn’t want any of us left in the background and not much of the story noticed.”

However, that is Cagney and Lacey The actress has since returned to the hit medical drama, appearing in seasons 17 and 18. She also said in the Call it like it is podcast that returning to the show was actually “liberating.”

“I have no attachment to it [the show] at all,” Drew explained. “I wasn’t afraid [going back because] I don’t need anything from anyone on set anymore. You are no longer responsible for my livelihood. They are not responsible for my success or my happiness… I say, “Hey! It’s fun to visit this place.’”

Elsewhere in the podcast, Drew also revealed that her character was originally supposed to have a one-night stand with Eric Dane’s Mark Sloan in season seven.

“Before they made my character love Jesus and a virgin, there was a scene where Sloan and Reed [Nora Zehetner] Having sex, a random one night stand. That was originally supposed to be me. It was supposed to be April,” she remembers. “April was supposed to have some one-off piece with Sloan, and that was in the original production draft [of the script]and then they changed it. I had nothing to do with it, but then they changed their mind.”