Grey’s Anatomy fans shocked after seeing Ellen Pompeo in first controversial role since leaving medical drama

Grey’s Anatomy fans are about to see Ellen Pompeo without her infamous scrubs as she takes on her first new role since leaving the hit medical drama.

Pompeo played the character of Meredith Grey from 2005 to 2023 and is one of only three actors to appear in the long-running ABC show from the very beginning.

She departed the series after 18 years, saying goodbye to her colleagues at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and setting up a new life in Boston with her family.

Pompeo has since returned on several sporadic occasions as flashbacks, and has maintained her role as Grey's Anatomy's signature voiceover - as well as remaining a producer.

And it turns out one of the reasons she scaled back her onscreen role on Grey's was to make room in her busy schedule to star in, as well as executively produce, a new true-crime drama titled Good American Family.

Ellen Pompeo in Good American Family (Hulu)

Told from multiple points of view, the series is based on the seriously disturbing stories surrounding a Midwestern couple, Kristine (Pompeo) and Michael Barnett (Mark Duplass), who adopted a girl Natalia Grace, played by Imogen Reid, with a rare form of dwarfism known as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita.

However, as they begin to raise her alongside their three biological children, mystery emerges around her age and background, and they slowly start to suspect she may not be who she says she is.

As the parents 'defend their family from the daughter they've grown to believe is a threat', she fights her own battle to confront her past and what her future holds, in a showdown that ultimately plays out in the tabloids and the courtroom.

The eight-part true-crime series is inspired by the chilling Natalia Grace case (Hulu)

The likes of Dulé Hill, Christina Hendricks, Sarayu Blue and Jenny O'Hara are also recurring guest stars alongside Duplass, Reid and Pompeo - who previously made a brief cameo appearance in Friends as Chandler and Ross' college crush, Missy Goldberg.

It's clear fans couldn't be more excited to see Pompeo in the new role ahead of the series' release in March, with one social media user gushing: "ELLEN’S NEW HULU SHOW GOOD AMERICAN FAMILY IS OUT 3/19!!!! IM' SO EXCITED TO SEE ELLEN IN A DIFFERENT ROLE!!"

"Why tf is Ellen Pompeo playing the mother that adopted a child but was maybe an adult dwarf??? Stay as Meredith grey plz!" urged a second.

"Ellen looks fine here! Nice to see her in a different role from Meredith Grey after all those years," pointed out another.

Imogen Faith as Natalia Grace (Hulu)

A final fan beamed: "I'M SO READY FOR THE 2025 ELLEN POMPEO COMEBACK!"

The Good American Family series comes after the bombshell docu-series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which came out back in 2023 and explored how Grace, who was legally proven to be 21, was acused of being 'an adult masquerading as a child.'

In September 2019, the Barnetts were charged with neglecting a dependant after they left Natalia in an apartment alone. In 2022, however, a jury found Michael not guilty, and charges against Kristine were dropped the following year.

At the time of the charges, Michael told Dr. Oz’s True Crime show: “It’s obvious that her records were falsified. This is an adult masquerading as a child.

“We took her to the stress center to have her evaluated that she is having thoughts of harming others, and she is stating out loud that she is attempting to kill Kristine.”

Good American Family is set to premiere on Hulu on 19 March.

• Ellen Pompeo’s yearly Grey’s Anatomy salary is sparking debate
• Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo detained by ‘bomb squad’ after trying to take item on plane
• Ellen Pompeo reveals private chat she had with Grey's Anatomy co-star Eric Dane after ALS diagnosis
• Grey’s Anatomy fans in tears as Sandra Oh becomes a doctor ‘for real’