'Women need to brag more'

AFTER 20 YEARS ON TV, THE STAR SPILLS ON PAYDAYS AND PICKING HER BATTLES

- Jennie Noonan

Raised by her father as well as her grandparents in a rough Boston neighbourhood, Ellen Pompeo, who was 4 when her mother died of an accidental prescription drug overdose, says she's a lot scrappier than her famous TV alter ego, the complex and passionate doctor Meredith Grey. "I'm confusing to people because they see me and they think I'm one thing or they see Meredith and they think that's me and that's who I am, but really, I'm really very different," she said during a March 19 appearance on podcast Call Her Daddy. "I probably should have been on The Sopranos more than Grey's Anatomy!"

In 2018, Pompeo, who has been a household name since the medical drama debuted in March 2005, tested her mettle when she went public about her salary negotiations. In an interview with