AceShowbiz - Ellen Pompeo, the face behind Meredith Grey in "Grey's Anatomy", got candid about her experience negotiating pay parity with her co-star Patrick Dempsey. During an appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, she shared her initial understanding, yet discomfort, with Dempsey being paid more at the show's inception.

"To be completely fair, the television game was so different then. He had done 13 pilots before me… Nothing personal to him, just in general, only a man can have 13 failed TV pilots and their quote keeps going up, right?" Pompeo said.

"But in all fairness, his quote was what it was," she went on. "He was a bigger star than I was at that point. No one knew who I was. Everybody knew who he was, so he did deserve that money."

Pompeo acknowledged that despite her understanding of the industry's norms, she felt undervalued as the titular character. "I wasn't salty about him getting what he got. I was salty that they didn't value me as much as they valued him and they never will," she stated.

The turning point in Pompeo's career came in 2018 when she renegotiated her contract, making her the highest-paid actress in a drama series with a $20 million annual salary. This included a salary of $575,000 per episode for a 24-episode season and additional earnings from signing bonuses and backend points.

"I asked Shonda [Rhimes] first," Pompeo revealed, referring to the show's creator. "She doesn't really have much to do with that stuff, it's business affairs and whatever but I said to her, 'I'm going to go in and ask for this much, are you cool with that?' "

"Just because I don't want to be disrespectful to her, I don't want to come off crazy and I want to let her know what moves I'm making because I do respect her. I am grateful to her."

Pompeo's confidence stemmed from her understanding of the show's value, "I see exactly how much Grey's Anatomy makes for ABC/Disney. I get to see the number. It's my face, it's my voice. I've done so much work promoting the show all over the world for the past 20 years. I am the Disney princess of that franchise."

Reflecting on her journey, Pompeo advocates for other women to fight for their worth, understanding the systemic undervaluation they face.

"I definitely deserve a percentage of that. I advocate for women always fighting for themselves because most likely they are getting undervalued compared to what they're offering men," she emphasized.

Pompeo's story is a powerful reminder of the importance of recognizing one's worth and the impact of advocating for fair compensation, a message that resonates strongly with the newer generations climbing the career ladder.