Eric Dane discloses real reason behind 'Grey's Anatomy' exit

Eric Dane cited a plethora of reasons to explain his departure from Grey’s Anatomy after six seasons.

The 51-year-old actor made his first apoearance as Dr. Mark Sloan as a guest star at the end of season two; however, he was introduced as a reguar in season three after garnering a mass fan following.

Dane’s character was eventually killed off in the season eight finale as he succumbed to his injuries following a tragic plane crash.

During an appearance on latest episdoe of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Podcast, the Euphoria actor revealed he wasn’t given a choice to stay on the show.

He went on to ascribe the departure to his growing face value on the show, as well as struggles with addiction at the time.

“I think I was let go,” he told the host. “I was starting to become, as most of these actors who have spent significant time on a show, you start to become very expensive for the network. And the network knows that the show is going to do what it’s going to do irrespective of who they keep on it. As long as they have their Grey, they’re fine.”

Dane heralded series’ producer for her vocal defend of the actor regardless of the creators’ decision to write him off.

“I wasn’t the same guy they had hired. So I had understood when I was let go. It wasn’t ceremoniously like, ‘You’re fired,’ it was just like, ‘You’re not coming back,'” the Last Ship alum explained.

The actor admitted to the sky-rocketing popularity of his character playing a part in why he relapsed.

“If you take the whole eight years on Grey’s Anatomy, I was fucked up longer than I was sober. And that’s when things started going sideways for me,” Eric said.

“It was overwhelming, and I think I just wanted to pretend that it wasn’t and that I was comfortable with it. Act like you’ve been there, but you haven’t been there,” he added.