Sarah Drew Explains Firing From ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ For First Time: ‘I Did My Crying And Called My People’

The show must go on without Sarah Drew, who played the role of April Kepner in the hit series Grey’s Anatomy.

Last March, Grey’s fans around the globe were shocked to find out that both Sarah Drew, who plays the role of April Kepner, and Jessica Capshaw, who plays the role of Arizona Robbins, would be leaving the show after the 14th season of the ABC drama. Like fans, the actress said that she was completely shocked by the news that her character’s time would be coming to an end on the show, according to Us Weekly.

“I was told that the show had too many characters and that they needed to downsize because they couldn’t service all of the characters effectively. They didn’t want any of us to be left in the background and not getting much of a story,” the 37-year-old revealed.

The actress then said that Krista Vernoff, one of the writers for the show, felt like Drew’s character had already been through so much during her time on the show that she simply didn’t know what more she could put her through. And though it was hard for Sarah to hear that, she did say that it made her feel a little better when Vernoff complimented her work on the show and let her know that April would be getting the happy ending that she deserves.

Drew also recalled the first time that she heard the news as she was shadowing Kevin McKidd, who plays Owen, during an episode that he was directing.

“It was in the afternoon and I went back to my trailer and I did my crying and called my people. A whole bunch of people came into my trailer to give me hugs and cry with me and tell me they were so sad I was leaving.”

She revealed that she was originally shadowing McKidd in hopes that she would be able to direct an episode of the show in the near future, but obviously, since she was let go, that didn’t really seem like it would be possible any more.

And though getting fired was a blow to her ego, Sarah says that her Emmy nomination for B-Team, a Grey’s Anatomy webseries, as well as a casting in a pilot (that never got picked up for a series) helped to get her back into the right headspace.

“My confidence had gotten a bit shaken in the wake of being let go and the nomination after the fact made me go, ‘I don’t need to be worried about anything or have my confidence shaken,” she said.

Grey’s Anatomy returns to ABC this fall.