Shonda Rhimes David Livingston/Getty Images
Shonda Rhimes is explaining her decision to take a step back from X and social media as a whole nearly 20 years after Grey’s Anatomy first premiered.
“Social media changed,” Rhimes, 54, told The Sunday Times in a new interview published on Sunday, April 14. “Fans have passionate feelings, and I was always fine with that. I understand that the characters felt like their friends. They were my imaginary friends too. That’s why I was writing them. And I think people just had very strong feelings about what happened with their friends.”
After a pause, she added, “But then it became weird.”
Whenever a season finale of Grey’s Anatomy would air, Rhimes said she requested a police car to be parked outside her house for a week due to death threats from upset fans.
While multiple stars appeared on Grey’s Anatomy for long stretches, others had one-episode stints. Demi Lovato, for example, landed a one-off part during one episode of season 6. Millie Bobby Brown, for her part, was relatively unknown when she appeared on a season 11 episode titled, “I Feel the Earth Move.” Jeffrey Dean Morgan, however, […]
“They got mean,” she explained. “And you never knew who was going to really take offense in the wrong way.”
The show’s executive producer also decided to employ private 24-hour security at her house in Los Angeles “because people are dangerous and strange.”
Rhimes — who is mom to Harper, 21, Emerson Pearl, 11, and Beckett, 10 — envisioned a day where she could step outside her house and not be concerned about her loved one’s safety. In 2020, the Golden Globe winner left Los Angeles and moved her family to a state she won’t reveal.
Shonda Rhimes and Grey’s Anatomy cast VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
“I wanted to just be able to walk out my front door and hang out with my kids and not be worried,” she said. “I would lay awake at night with stress.”
Rhimes continued, “I had some very helpful friends who’d had similar experiences, who were able to give me a lot of perspective, and who were adamant that if you can’t live normally then you’re not going to be able to live.”
In October 2022, Rhimes announced she was leaving X. While her Instagram remains active, she has limited her posts.
The Shondaland founder remains involved with Grey’s Anatomy today and previously told E! News that she has no intention of ending the show.
Grey’s Anatomy has captivated audiences since its March 2005 premiere, but sometimes, what was going on behind-the-scenes of the series was more dramatic than what went down in the fictional hallways of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. “I do my best and we all do our best. It’s actually, the journey of it has been quite […]
“I’m going to leave it alone and see where it goes,” she said in May 2023. “We’re going to stay a show as long as everybody wants to be there and as long as the fans want to be there.”
One important task the Bridgerton executive producer has away from the small screen is raising her two youngest kids — and teaching them how to survive and thrive in today’s society. After all, Rhimes would agree the internet doesn’t need any more trolls.
“My theory of parenting is that I’m trying to raise a citizen,” she explained. “I’m not trying to raise a friend. I’m not trying to raise a kid that I’m going to keep forever. …I don’t want them to be helpless creatures, kids who just can’t do anything, or get out in the world and not understand their place among everybody else.”
