Patrick Dempsey Divorce: Affair With Much Younger ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Staffer Reportedly The Reason For His Costly Divorce

Patrick Dempsey reportedly lost his job on Grey’s Anatomy after cheating with a much younger staff member, and now it appears the affair is the reason for his divorce as well.

Dempsey announced recently that he and wife Jillian are divorcing. Just a few weeks later, his character Dr. Derek Shepherd was abruptly killed off on Grey’s Anatomy, a move that was particularly shocking given that Dempsey had renewed his contract and appeared to many to be in good standing with the show.

But now it turns out that Dempsey’s string of bad luck may all come back to the same incident. A new report from Radar Online claimed that Jillian ended the marriage when she found out Dempsey was cheating with a staffer.

The report claimed (via Celeb Dirty Laundry), “Patrick’s affair with the staffer on the show began last August. It was obvious to everyone Patrick was [sleeping with] her. It got very messy and emotional on set and became a huge liability. Patrick would remain in his trailer after hooking up with her on set and refuse to come out. He had also been complaining about the storyline of his character, and felt he wasn’t getting enough screen time.”

The affair allegedly caused a rift on the set of Grey’s Anatomy as well, leading to an unplanned absence for Patrick Dempsey. It also polarized other actors, driving a wedge between Patrick and his co-star Ellen Pompeo, a source told In Touch Weekly.

“There was tension in Patrick and Ellen’s relationship for years before the final blowup. [She] was sick of his behavior on and off set.”

Ellen took the cheating particularly hard, the report claimed, as she had grown quite close to Patrick Dempsey’s wife.

“[His co-star] Ellen Pompeo found out and was angry because she’s close friends with Jillian, so of course, she told her.”

There were hopes that sending Patrick Dempsey off for a while would cool tensions, but the situation only worsened when he got back. When he returned, the staffer had been moved and reports suggest that Dempsey grew impossible to work with, leading showrunner Shonda Rhimes to kill him off.

There are even reports that Ellen Pompeo was one of the chief ones calling for Dempsey’s firing.

If the Grey’s Anatomy cheating rumors are true, it could lead to a messy and potentially expensive divorce for Patrick Dempsey. The actor has a reported net worth of $40 million, and Dempsey reportedly didn’t sign a prenup agreement before marrying Jillian.

[Image via ABC]