Eric Dane reveals why he was fired from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Eric Dane has a theory about his exit from “Grey’s Anatomy.”

The 51-year-old actor appeared on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast last week and opened up about why he was fired from the hit ABC series in 2012.

“I didn’t leave so much as I think I was let go,” he said.

Dane played the handsome and charismatic Dr. Mark Sloan on “Grey’s Anatomy” from Seasons 3 to 9. His character was killed in the deadly plane crash alongside Chyler Leigh’s Lexie Grey.

The actor said that he was “struggling” with drugs and alcohol addiction at the time that he was written off the show.

“They didn’t let me go because of that, although it definitely didn’t help,” he said.

“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,” Dane continued. “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.”

“I wasn’t the same guy they had hired, so I had understood,” he added.

Despite losing his job on the show, Dane had nothing but praise for creator Shonda Rhimes.

“She protected us fiercely,” he said. “She protected us publicly, she protected us privately… I love Shonda Rhimes and she protected me but I was probably fired. It wasn’t ceremoniously like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was just like, ‘You’re not coming back.’ “

Dane said he was sober for several years before he was cast on “Grey’s Anatomy.” However, he relapsed during the Writers Guild of America Strike in 2007.

“If you take the whole eight years I was on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I was f–ked up longer than I was sober and that was when things started going sideways for me,” he recalled.

Dane went into rehab in 2011 for an addiction to painkillers following a sports injury.

“Actor Eric Dane voluntarily checked himself into a treatment facility to help him get off of pain medication that he was prescribed for a sports injury that he suffered over the recent hiatus,” his rep said at the time, per CBS News. “He reports back to work next week. Business as usual.”

He announced his exit from the beloved TV series the following year.

“I am extremely grateful to everyone at ‘Grey’s,’ ABC and Shondaland for the experience and memories I have had over the course of this run,” he said in a statement to TVLine at the time. “It has been wonderful to work alongside and learn from a creative force such as Shonda Rhimes.”

Dane returned to the show for a guest appearance on Season 17 in 2020. His character popped up in Meredith Grey’s (Ellen Pompeo) dream sequence when she was in a coma from COVID-19.

“Grey’s Anatomy” has been on the air since 2005. The show was renewed for Season 21 which will premiere in September.