Actor Patrick Dempsey, the Lewiston-born heartthrob alum of Grey’s Anatomy, is a revisionist when it comes to fondly remembering his late fellow actor Eric Dane.
That according to an extra who worked on the Grey’s Anatomy set with both actors.
Maine-born Dempsey, 60, was just quoted by the New York Post remembering Dane, 53, as the “funniest man” and “such a joy to work with.”
“I just want to remember him in that spirit because any time he was on the Grey’s Anatomy set, he brought so much fun to it,” Dempsey said.
“We hit it off because there was never really any competition,” Dempsey added. “There was this wonderful mutual respect; he was wickedly intelligent and I’m always going to remember those moments of fun that we had together and celebrate the joy that he did bring to people’s lives.”
Not so fast, says a former Grey’s Anatomy background actress.
Laura Ann Tull paints Dane, who died last week of ALS, as a self-involved narcissistic egomaniac hung up on his good looks.
And that’s just the least of what Tull says she remembers of Dane.
Posting on the social-media network Threads in response to a Variety announcement about Dane’s passing, Laura Ann Tull wrote bluntly that he “was a bully and an a-hole,” immediately sparking pushback from other users.
In a series of follow-up posts, she alleged that Dane had mistreated her during her time working as an extra on Grey’s Anatomy, where she says she spent three years on set.
“He was a coward who abused me. Bullied me. Made fun of me,” she wrote in one reply.
In another, she claimed, “He just died. I only wish he’d apologized & admitted what he did.”
Tull also suggested she played a role in his exit from the show, writing, “I am why he was fired from Grey’s,” while alleging she had contacted production prior to his departure. She did not provide evidence supporting that claim.
Elsewhere in the thread, her posts expanded beyond on-set allegations. She accused Dane of interfering with her ability to work and claimed long-term consequences tied to that experience.
“His dying doesn’t change the destruction he caused me,” she wrote, adding that she intended to pursue legal action at one point.
The comments echo themes Tull previously shared in a 2018 Medium post, where she described her time working in Hollywood and referenced Dane by name.
In that essay, she said she never directly spoke to him on set but believed he had spoken negatively about her to others.
“I worked on set of Grey’s Anatomy for three years as an extra, but I never spoke to Dane once directly,” she wrote. “But I did hear him talk about me.”
She also described being labeled “weird” through a third party and said the experience contributed to her feeling pushed out of the industry.
There is no confirmed public record supporting Tull’s claim that she influenced Dane’s departure from Grey’s Anatomy.
Dane’s 2012 exit from the show was driven by budget and creative decisions, as long-running cast members became more expensive for the network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Dane himself acknowledged he was also dealing with personal issues, including drug addiction, but maintained that those were not the primary reason for his departure.
Dane rose to prominence as Dr. Mark Sloan – nicknamed “McSteamy” – before later taking on a major role in HBO’s Euphoria.
The handsome Dempsey, who portrayed Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd, was Dane’s counterweight.
Dempsey’s good looks won him the “Sexiest Man Alive” title three years ago from People magazine.
He was born in Lewiston and grew up in the nearby towns of Turner and Buckfield.
