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The true story behind the sexual assault episode on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

The true story behind the sexual assault episode on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

On March 28, 2019, Grey’s Anatomy aired the episode “Silent All These Years,” in which Jo (Camilla Luddington) treated a woman who had been sexually assaulted, culminating in a powerful scene in which all the women in the hospital lined the hallway to make sure the The patient felt comfortable getting the treatment she needed.

The episode, which also revealed that Jo’s father had raped her mother, was praised for its ability to tackle such a sensitive subject, with much of that praise going to author Elisabeth R. Finch. Finch and then-showrunner Krista Vernoff even appeared on EW’s Awardist podcast to discuss the hour and the inspiration for “Army of Awesome” as the women lined the hall.

Grey’s Anatomy episode “Silent All These Years.”

Mitch Haaseth/Disney General entertainment content via Getty


But a new documentation, Anatomy of lieshas provided further insight into the episode. Anatomy of lies Details of Finch’s career with an emphasis on her time at Grey’s Anatomyand revealed a series of lies she told, including that her colleagues had believed for years she was living with cancer, which turned out to be untrue.

In the series, former Grays Author Kiley Donovan specifically remembers telling Finch a personal story. “At one point we were having a drink and I shared something that had happened to me, something that I was processing, which was that my biological father was my mother’s rapist,” Donovan says in the series. “And I hadn’t processed that trauma.”

Donovan continues: “It was around the time that Finch started writing an episode she called “Silent All These Years,” in which the character Jo Wilson deals with a woman who was attacked and wanted to give her a rape kit . But Then the second element of the episode was in the past. Jo had flashbacks to meeting her mother and learning that she had been conceived in a rape.

Grey’s Anatomy episode “Silent All These Years.”

Eric McCandless/Disney General entertainment content via Getty


It’s impossible to say for sure whether Finch took inspiration from her friend’s story or elsewhere, but Donovan admits that it felt “weird and wrong” that Finch was praised for writing what Donovan described as “THE top-class episode after Me Too”.

Finch is even in the episode. Every female member of the crew has been invited to don scrubs and be part of the crucial hallway scene, Donovan included, but it’s Finch who stands front and center, pushing the stretcher.

Anatomy of liesnow streaming on Peacock, follows Finch’s life long after that particular episode as she allegedly steals stories from others and is eventually exposed for, among other things, lying about her cancer diagnosis.

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