What started as a mid-season replacement for another show, medical drama Grey’s Anatomy has gone on to become the longest-running scripted primetime show currently airing on ABC. Throughout its 18 seasons, the show has been lauded for its diverse and memorable characters but still at the heart of the show remains its titular character Meredith Grey portrayed by American actress Ellen Pompeo.
The show not only catapulted Pompeo to worldwide recognition but she along with her co-star Patrick Dempsey became a fan favorite couple throughout the history of the show. While McDreamy was the love of the life of Pompeo’s Meredith Grey; who is the love of the life of her real life? Let us find out all about the man Ellen Pompeo has been married to for 15 years; Chris Ivery.
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Ivery is from Massachusetts
Chris Ivery was born on February 7, 1967, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US to a Jewish family. Not much is known about his family or his early life growing up. However, there are sources that claim that he went to Harvard University for higher education.
He found his passion in Music Production
Chris Ivery has worked as a music producer for more than 25 years. One of his notable works is his co-writing credit for the song ‘Cheers (Drink to that)’ performed by singer Rihanna which was also the soundtrack for the musical drama television series ‘Smash’.
Chris and Ellen’s First Met at a Local Store
Chris Ivery and Ellen Pompeo bumped into each other at a local grocery store in Los Angeles in 2003. They quickly started talking and built a mutual friendship for six months during which they found that both of them were from Boston. They finally decided to court each other romantically. In her 2006 interview with People magazine, Pompeo talked about her relationship with Ivery and said:
“We were six degrees our whole life, so I feel like we were sort of meant to be.” “We’ll get married eventually, secretly.”
Any Grey’s Anatomy fan can remember that Meredith and Patrick did not have a conventional wedding with them writing their vows in a post-it note and only registering to get married at City Hall in order to adapt their daughter, Zola.
Pompeo herself followed a similar path to get married to her then-boyfriend Chris Ivery in 2007. The couple held their nuptials at the New York City Hall secretly with Mayor Michael Bloomberg officiating the marriage. Pompeo had revealed that none knew about the fact that Ivery had proposed to her or their sudden plans to get married. Talking to Ryan Secrest and Kelly Ripa, she explained:
“We flew out on a redeye Thursday night. Friday morning, we woke up, went to the City Hall, had the wedding real quick, and then we went to Lupa for lunch after.”
She added:
“We had the whole weekend and none knew, so we had that to ourselves,”
He is father to three beautiful children: Stella, Sienna, & Eli
Soon after their wedding, the couple was blessed with their first child. Pompeo gave birth to their daughter Stella Luna Pompeo Ivery on September 15, 2009. The couple had their second daughter Sienna May in 2014 via surrogacy. Talking about her experience with surrogacy, Pompeo said,
“This is an incredible thing to do with your life, to give the gift of carrying someone’s child. I was with her when they inseminated her, and we held hands. I looked into the microscope and I saw the embryo.”
The couple welcomed their third child Eli Christopher on December 29, 2016.
Ellen’s intimate scenes with McDreamy were Initially Hard on him
Viewers of Grey’s Anatomy have seen the incredible chemistry Ellen Pompeo had with her co-star Patrick Dempsey on the show. Their intimate scenes were so good that even her husband initially had a hard time with them. On Instyle’s podcast ‘Ladies First with Laura Brown’, Pompeo revealed what her husband felt about those scenes.
She revealed, “Poor guy had no idea what he was getting into. I remember in the beginning it was really hard for him.” “This is not what I signed up for. You go to work and make out with that. I like Patrick and everything, he’s a good dude, but like really?” she added.
Chris is very confident in his love for Ellen
Back in 2013, Pompeo talked with Queen Latifah about her relationship with her husband. She said, “My husband is a fantastic guy, and very, very secure. I think that’s probably why I am so into him; because he’s got so much swag. He’s just so secure that nothing shakes him.”
While her onscreen chemistry threatened him initially, he has long overcome anything that would harm their relationship. Talking with US Weekly in 2019, he said,
“There was a time back in the day that I watched it a lot, but then I didn’t know if she had a lover. I would say I’m not jealous; I’m really confident, but it’s awkward.”
He revealed that he stopped watching the show around this time. Can’t really blame the guy though!
Chris Recently Tried His Hands on Fashion
In 2019, Chris Ivery set his mind on new fashion-related ventures. What inspired him to follow this new path was the inconvenience he had to go through every time he had to order something from his favorite clothing brand ‘Sergio Tacchini’.
Unfortunately, the brand was very hard to find in the United States and most of the time Ivery had to order his clothing items from the UK. What followed then was him personally reaching out to the brand and talking with them about relaunching the label in Los Angeles, California. And this is how the STLA collection was born.
Talking about her husband’s sudden change in career at the age of 50, Pompeo said to US Weekly:
“He’s been in the music business for 25 years and he’s changed careers at 50. And he killed it”. She went on to add, “I mean, knocked it out of the park. It’s amazing! So, for anyone who feels they’re stuck, you could change your career at any age.”
Fun Fact
Did you know that Pompeo’s character Dr. Meredith Grey was initially partnered up with Isaiah Washington as Dr. Derek Shepherd since the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes wanted to portray a biracial couple in the show? However, Pompeo could not get on board with it since it would strongly replicate her real-life relationship with Chris Ivery.