"Grey's Anatomy" fans were shocked when Eric Dane, who famously starred as Dr. Mark Sloan for six seasons from 2006 to 2012, exited the show. Now the actor has revealed that he was axed from the medical drama.
"I didn't leave so much as I think I was let go," he shared on Friday's episode of Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast, according to Page Six.
Dane had been "struggling" with drug and alcohol addiction leading up to his departure, as Shepard noted, but while the actor admitted it "definitely didn't help" his cause, it was not the main reason why he was let go. Instead, Dane said he thought it was due to financial reasons.
"I was starting to become — as most of these actors who have spent significant time on the show — you start to become very expensive for the network," he said.
"And the network knows that the show is going to do what it's going to do irrespective of who they keep on it — as long as they have their Grey they were fine."
Looking back, Dane said he understood why producers decided to end his contract because he "wasn't the same guy they had hired." He went on to praise show creator, Shonda Rhimes, who he said was "really great" throughout the ordeal.
"She protected us fiercely. She protected us publicly, she protected us privately… I love Shonda Rhimes and she protected me but I was probably fired," Dane said.
"It wasn't ceremoniously like, 'You're fired,' it was just like, 'You're not coming back.'"
Elaborating on his battle with addiction, Dane shared that he had been sober for "three or four years" prior to being cast on "Grey's Anatomy," but in 2007 he relapsed during the Writers Guild of America Strike.
"If you take the whole eight years I was on 'Grey's Anatomy,' I was [expletive] up longer than I was sober and that was when things started going sideways for me," he said.
Dane's character survived a plane crash in the Season 8 finale but died at the start of Season 9. He returned in Season 17 for a guest appearance with Chyler Leigh, whose character also died in the crash.