Sarah Drew says her exit from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was both a high and a low point

Sarah Drew Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images

While Sarah Drew‘S Grey’s anatomy The departure came as a surprise to both her and her fans, and she now considers it a blessing in disguise.

“I loved it there. It was a beautiful time and experience, so I wouldn’t have gone,” Drew, 43, said on the Monday, November 27, episode Jan Kramer‘S Podcast ‘Whine Down’. “But if I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t be writing, I wouldn’t be producing, I wouldn’t be activating my brain and my heart on all these other layers and levels that have nourished my soul and brought me so much joy.”

Producers decided in March 2018 that Drew, who played Dr. April Kepner was set to play the lead role Jessica Capshaw, which Dr. Arizona Robbins would be written off after season 14 of the ABC medical drama. “No one understood,” Drew added. “It was so confusing, that’s why I say it was so painful but piercingly joyful because I had another couple [of] still being on the show for weeks after I knew I was going, and the outpouring of love from the fans.

Fans showed their appreciation by renting a plane with a banner reading: “We love you Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw” to fly over the set. Drew noted that she was also touched by the parting gifts she received from other cast and crew members.

“They put these boxes together for us on our last day. Everyone had written us a letter, and crew members came up to me and said, ‘There was a moment, five years ago, when we had this conversation,'” Drew recalls. “’It meant so much to me and I want to thank you before you leave.’ And if I had stayed on the show forever and left when everyone else did, I wouldn’t have experienced the visceral love bombing that was the experience.

Drew also received a call from the show’s creator at the time Shonda Rhimes and executive producer Betsy Beers, neither of whom were responsible for writing off her character. “I was so overwhelmed by how loved I was on that set that all I could do was cry,” Drew said. “I was literally crying on the phone with joy, like I was thanking them for the opportunity they had given me to be part of this family and be part of this legacy. And that’s really all I felt. I was conquered [with emotion].”

Sarah Drew says her exit from 'Grey's Anatomy' was both her high point and her low point on the show — ABC/Eric McCandless

Drew’s experience of feeling “so deeply loved” on the show is one she “wouldn’t trade” for the world. “That reality of holding those two things, pain and joy, that’s just what life is,” Drew said. “That’s what we’re working on all the time, that’s the journey. And the ride and the bike I’m on the whole time is, ‘Okay, this is painful. I feel it, I look at it, I experience it. Where do I find its glory?’ For example, I’m a hunter for glory.’

Drew later reprized her role as April for a season 17 and season 18 episode in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Both saw April reunited with her on-screen love, Dr. Jackson Avery, played by Jesse Williams. The duo have expressed their desire to star in a spin-off, with Drew speaking exclusively We weekly in September 2022 that she thinks the series could act as a prequel.

“I’d love to go back in time and see them get back together,” she noted. “You know, we got that little bit where the audience was informed that they had gotten back together, but I would love to see that happen. I would like to see the push and pull and the will for them not to do that and all that stuff.

Sarah Drew says her exit from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ was both a high and a low point

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