(CNN)Ellen Pompeo is defending her comments about a “toxic” environment on the set of Grey’s Anatomy, saying no one person was to blame.
In a series of tweets Saturday, the actress who plays the main character on the hit ABC series, said her words about the show’s past unhealthy work environment were meant to inspire and not target anyone in particular.
“Hey! Anyone having feelings over Variety piece. It’s not worth getting yourself upset over,” Pompeo tweeted. “(N)ot singling anyone out … as a show we all had a part to play in the environment me included … as many workplaces do.”
Her words came days after she told “Empire” actress Taraji P. Henson in an interview for Variety’s Actors on Actors feature that during the first 10 years, the show “had serious culture issues, very bad behavior, really toxic” work environment.
She told people criticizing her not to make assumptions over what she meant.
“None of my comments in print are ever meant to shade anyone,” Pompeo tweeted Saturday. “That’s so not productive. My words about my journey are always meant to inspire and reflect. My shade is very obvious when I’m not subtle about it you all should know that.”
Pompeo, who stars as Meredith Grey for whom the show is named, said she stuck it out because she had children and needed to take care of her family.
“But after Season 10, we had some big shifts in front of the camera, behind the camera,” she said. “It became my goal to have an experience there that I could be happy and proud about, because we had so much turmoil for 10 years.”
Among those issues: In 2007 Isaiah Washington left after he used a homophobic slur while arguing on set with fellow cast member Patrick Dempsey.
T.R. Knight said in 2009 that he exited the show after a “breakdown of communication” between himself and its creator, Shonda Rhimes.
The following year, his good friend Katherine Heigl left after having earlier withdrawn herself from Emmy consideration because she said she hadn’t been provided the material “to warrant an Emmy nomination.”
