Fans were shocked when T.R. Knight made the surprising decision to leave Grey’s Anatomy, the hit medical drama that launched him to fame. This week, in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor reveals what led him to his decision, and he also candidly discusses “Isaiahgate,” coming out of the closet, and leaving his friends at Seattle Grace.
This fall, Knight was surprised to see his character George O’Malley all but vanish from the show — for the first nine episodes of season 5, he appeared on screen a total of only 48 minutes, compared to 114 for Sandra Oh’s Christina. Still, due to what he calls a gradual “breakdown of communication” between himself and exec producer Shonda Rhimes, the actor chose not to ask his boss what was going on with his character. Instead, he simply asked to leave. “My five-year experience proved to me that I could not trust any answer that was given [about George],” he explains. “And with respect, I’m going to leave it at that.”
Though he was unknown when Grey’s premiered, Knight soon emerged as one of the breakout stars (and even earned a supporting actor Emmy nod in 2007), but it was what came to be known as “Isaiahgate” that would catapult him to household-name status. After Isaiah Washington referred to Knight as a “f—-t” during an on-set argument with co-star Patrick Dempsey, the tabloids caught wind of it, Knight came out in the press, and Washington was fired. While Knight doesn’t specifically fault Rhimes for how the situation was handled behind the scenes, he says the exec producer was among those who tried to discourage him from coming out: “I think she was concerned about having my statement come out so close to the [initial] event.” Rhimes denies this: “I said, ‘If you want to come out, that’s awesome. We’ll totally support that.’ And then he went away, thought about it, and came back and said, ‘I’m going to make this statement.’ I remember saying to [fellow executive producer] Betsy Beers, ‘This is our proudest day here. T.R. got to come out, and I got to say to him that it wouldn’t affect his character’ — because he was concerned that he was going to come out and George would suddenly be gay. I was like, ‘We are not going to do that.’ The idea that a gay actor can’t play a straight man is insulting.”
Knight returned to work on season 4, but the actor struggled with the story line in which George cheated on his wife Callie (Sara Ramirez) with Izzie (Katherine Heigl). And once George went MIA from the beginning of season 5, the star came to the conclusion that his character had “expired.”Today, Knight is at peace with his choice to leave: “There just comes a time when it’s so clear that moving on is the best decision,” he says. But at first, his castmate and friend Heigl tried to talk him out of it. “I didn’t think it was the right decision,” she says. “I felt like some of the problems could be worked through. But by the time it came to fruition, I was [glad] for him because he was ready to go.”
Knight knows he’s taking a risk walking away from his top 10 show and $14 million contract. “From an outsider’s perspective, I get the [impression that] ‘He’s just a spoiled actor…he doesn’t know how good he has it,’” he says. “There are a lot of people who would like to be in my position. But in the end, I need to be fulfilled in my work.”
For more on T.R. Knight — including how he felt when George was back-burnered, what he really thought of the “Gizzie” story line, and where you can see him next– plus what’s in store for the other docs on Grey’s Anatomy, pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly on stands Friday July 24.
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Congratulations on your first cover story Mike!! Don’t get all Hollywood on us and forget to give us scoop!
Can’t wait to see him on Broadway! Good luck, T.R.!
First off, congrats, Mike, on your first cover story. It’s well deserved, especially for putting up with us Ausholes! Second, you go, T.R! Shonda did her very best to run poor George into the ground. I’m impressed he put up with her for all as long as he did. Get out while the getting is good, my friend!
Congrats on your first EW cover. As a writer, I know how exciting that can be. Between knowing you wrote it and seeing that it’s about TR, I’m actually excited to read about Grey’s again. And that cover photo looks great. TR is fabulous and I wish him all the best as he moves on from Grey’s. Hope to see him on Broadway.
Congrats on your very first coverstory Mike!
The interview is great, and I wish TR all the best.
Sounds like GA is full of a bunch of divas and spoiled brats – starting from the top. I love the show, but the behind-the-scenes drama is distasteful.
I agree congrats on this huge story. Seeing why he left, from his words, will be some scoop.
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I love TR so much. I agree. Shonda made George vanish and treated the character like crap over the years. I love Gizzie though. The affair was out of character, but the love story was beautiful in itself. They are still my favorite character, but Shonda destroyed them too.
She destroyed their friendship and then she destroyed absolutely every friendship George ever had. They cut him out of the fab 5 completely, and yes she stood by Isiah not him when Isiah attacked him.
So go TR for telling the truth about Shonda.
I always knew she was to blame for us losing our George.
TR looks amazing here.
TR tends to have trouble with the truth.
As we’ve seen in interview after interview, Rimes isn’t good to her word, so I can understand TR’s reluctance to extend his time after being marginalized so seriously. The numbers quote above for screen time are even exaggerated – (the amazing) Sandra’s minutes are heavy acting, TR’s 48 minutes were siting and istening, delivering a coffee, etc. It’s really no wonder that he wanted out, and it looks like it was a great decision since he’s already got a line of projects confirmed. Go TR!
A la David Caruso – Long live the actors that are too good for the show that created their fame. TR, welcome to the B-list – can Katherine (Izzie) be next? Let’s just hope.
I am sure Grey’s wasn’t the best of working enviornments at times. And while I agree, “George” disappeared last season. But given that George was a big part of the show prior to that. One soft year in terms of storyline pales to all the time he did work in prior seasons. So I am not sure I see the sour grapes. I am sure it had more to do with SRimes. But still, I am not sure I buy all his rationale.
Oh please, Ariel. TR isn’t leaving because he thinks he’s too good for Grey’s. He’s leaving because he was MISERABLE and all the money in the world wasn’t enough to get him to stay.
Who cares?????? Who is TR Knight?
In 10 years he’ll regret it big time.
TR did nothing for a year and a half. He had about three episodes with 30 seconds airtime, and a lot of those 48 minutes were spend not saying a word and just standing in the background. They didn’t even mention him in the Grey matter blogs. TR might have chosen to quit, but Shonda is the one who forgot about George.
David Caruso? How can you compare? Caruso left after a year a show where he was the big star and had all the big stories to become a movie star.
TR is leaving a show where he has spent 5 years and where his character was not written out of not to become a movie star and make big money, but to find something that fulfills him professionally, which he says is more important than making money.
He wants to act. He went to Broadway, which pays much less, because it lets him act.
There’s nothing here about him thinking the show is not good enough for him. He thinks the show will never use him, and thats eemed that way to me.
George will always be my favorite.
Who is TR? An amazing actor who gave me my favorite character of all time (George) and my favorite couple of all time (Gizzie). That’s who he is.
You need to consider that in those 48 minutes, he spent most of the time silent, serving coffee and telling the Chief Yes sir, No sir and so on. He had a whole episode where he only worked with a robot. I don’t call that a soft year.
They erased George and made him irrelevant.
It always seemed personal to me. I don’t think it’s a coincidence George’s screentime drastically reduced starting in season 4 after Shonda was forced to fire IW and cried bitter tears over it.
She clearly blamed TR for IW’s homophobia, and made him pay for it.
Now I hope she doesn’t sabotage George’s funeral just to get back at TR for this interview.
I wouldn’t put it past her.
Thanks TR for telling us the truth. Shonda can’t seem to ever tell it.
Side article inside should read: why I left Grey’s (viewership) the year before….
dumb storylines, tons of infighting by producers/cast, people like TR and Heigl being vocal about not even wanting to be on the show, etc.
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In 10 years? LOL, you honestly think Grey will be on in 10 years? I give it 2 years tops. It’s no ER, and the ratings in season 5 were already down.
I don’t blame TR for leaving a sinking ship, especially after how Shonda treated him.
It’s not just this season too. George was always getting the shaft on this show from the very first season.
The bad guys got to get everything, and George, the good guy, got crapped on all the time.
I’ll miss George very much. He was the one guy I could relate to.
I could see TR being very happy doing theater. I have seen him on stage before, and he really shines.
We’ll be missing him on Grey though.
Gizzie was my favorite couple, and I quit watching when they ended. I’m now glad I did. I don’t think I wouldn’t have been able to stand my favorite character reduced to wallpaper.
I find it pretty great TR loved acting more than he loves the big bucks. Plenty of people would have stayed on Grey doing nothing just to get the money, but he’s not like that. I respect his integrity.
I respect the fact Katie and TR say what they really think and don’t lie just to have people like them.
Good for them. It’s good to see some honest people in this business. That’s probably why they’re best friends. They tell the truth.
On a shallow note, TR looks amazingly gorgeous on this cover.
I just really wish that he could have somehow worked it out, i’m sure they would have written him a great storyline and he would have finally won an Emmy. I think it’s a mistake leaving, I just hope that ABC and other networks cast him on another tv show ASAP. He’s too good of an actor.
George was always my favorite male character on Greys. That almost all had to do with TR’s acting ability and great timing. It is quite clear that the creator had sour grapes because she had to fire her golden cast member and acted like a child from then on by cutting the victim’s screen time. When Isaiah said at the Emmy press conference, he never said called TR the “word”, Shondra let out this big grin and giggled while the other cast members stood there and looked horrified. That always rubbed me wrong. I congratulate TR for getting out of a hostile work environment. It’s very telling when you are constantly hearing about actors wanting to leave a hot show, what type of working conditions they are in. NO amount of money should allow your boss to treat you like garbage. I wish him all the success in the world and know that Grey’s will not be the same without him. I wish someone would replace Shondra because she is the big C.
Oh no. I could totally see Shonda taking it out on George and having everyone forget about him in two secodns because of this. We all know how vindictive she can be. Look at what she did to TR because of isiah the last two seasons. Look what she did to George.
I can say I have always loved TR. I met him two years back and he was the sweetest, funniest guy, but I never thought he would have the guts to speak out against Shonda. I’m so haoppy he did.
Of course it will just make those few IW fans so happy and they can say Isiah was right about TR being a whiner while they forget how Isiah whined for months after getting fired, but who cares?
What TR said is true. No character has ever been erased like George has this season. I remember the fans begging day after day for George to get some story, saying they missed them, and Shonda never listened to them.
She couldn’t care less we were missing George.
I’m so glad he is setting things straight.
Oh and TR looks hot!
For an actor to leave a show where he is paid millions, all I can say is the working conditions/environment must have been pretty bad. Who can walk away from that?
I don’t think we will ever know all the details of what went down. But I respect his decision to do what is best for him.
And after reading Shonda’s comments about Ellen and would anyone watch Lexie’s anatomy……….it looks like she might throw Ellen under the bus next. Back burn Meredith and I am gone.
Bye-bye T.R. Enjoy your last hoorah…obscurity is in your future.
TR, I have alwas loved you. From day one, I loved George and rooted for him. From episode 4, I rooted for Gizzie to be together and I still love George and Gizzie to this day. Shonda did you wrong. She never seemed to want George to make it at all. She screwed oevr all of us who wanted George and Izzie to be together from the start by having them have an affair, which was so so wrong. Yet I still loved those two because of the amazing chemistry you and Katie had.
Over the last season, Shonda tried very hard to make us forget George and stop loving him, but it didn’t work.
It just made us love George more.
I’m glad you’re speaking out because some people were saying you were the one who didn’t want any airtime and Shonda had nothing to do with it. Now, we know the truth.
I want you to know your real fans will support you no matter what and we just want you to be happy. We will miss George. He was such a lovable, brave character.
He died the hero he was.
Good luck.
I’m a big George fan so I find it sad he lost his love for the character. We didn,t get to see much of George this season, but the little we saw was great. George was caring with his patients (Duncan), an amazing friend (walking Izzie down the aisle), funny (playing good cop and bad cop with Mer) and showed himself to be a great doctor, calm under pressure (finding out Sadie was a crook, and saving the guy who jumped off the window). I also thought Gizzie was a great couple. I assume he is bashing the affair part of it like Katie did. I remember Katie saying she loved Gizzie together and thought they made each other so happy and were right together, but she hated they had committed adultery. I hate that part too, but then this is a TV show and those characters are just human. My three favorite couples on Grey, Gizzie, MerDer and Maddison, all started as affairs. It was wrong, but those couples were right. I still miss Gizzie and Maddison.
I hope TR gets a new role on TV. I miss him.
Uh, who cares? This story is nearly 3 months old. Wow, it must be the doldrums of summer if EW can’t find anything better to put on the cover.
I really hope TR gets cast on a TV show. He is way too talented not to do TV again. He was so amazing in the finale in that elevator scene when he had to act opposite nobody. He just made it work all by himself and gave us one of the best moments on TV. Knowing how mad he was at Shonda shows even more how talented he was that he was able to rise above that.
TR is amazing. He can make me laugh and cry in the very same episode. He can not say a word but still express so much feelings.
I think he could do any role given to him.
If he wants to do theater, I’ll respect that, but I would miss him so much.
He’s too talented to restrict himself to broadway.
I must say he is looking very yummy on this cover.
I’ll definitely be buying it.
“There are a lot of people who would like to be in my position. But in the end, I need to be fulfilled in my work.”
How nice that he has that luxury. Right now, most of us are struggling to keep a foot in at the door of our less than fulfilling jobs.
I have nothing against TR, but he was not my favorite character, perhaps because of the storylines. Maybe he’s making the right move by leaving while he’s still popular and has the chance to find good work elsewhere.