Ellen Pompeo rose to household name status on Grey’s Anatomy. She finally stepped back from the series, with her last episode airing on the 19th season premiere in February of 2023. After leaving the wildly popular series, Ellen then turned her attention to a limited series for Hulu. In September of 2022, she spoke out about leaving Greys and the future ahead. “I’m so excited,” Ellen exclusively told News47.us at the D23 Expo, where she was named a Disney Legend along with her former co-star Patrick Dempsey. “I feel really happy and grateful that the company gave me an opportunity to do something different with my new limited series.”
She also has likely found some extra time to spend with her family, including her adorable husband Chris Ivery. The couple might just have the sweetest meet cute story of all time. Two years before her star-making turn on the hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, Ellen met her future husband in a Los Angeles grocery store. Throughout the interaction in 2003, the pair discovered they grew up just 10 miles away from each other in Boston, Massachusetts, and marveled at the coincidence. “We were six degrees our whole lives, so I feel like we were sort of meant to be,” Ellen later told people. The future couple were friends for six months, before their relationship took a romantic turn, and they’ve gone from strength to strength ever since.
Here’s everything you need to know about Chris!
Chris Ivery met his future wife in 2003. Despite her status as one of the biggest names in Hollywood, he has maintained a relative amount of anonymity, and doesn’t have any social media. He was a record producer and song writer for almost three decades, notably earning a co-writing credit on “Cheers (Drink to that)” by Rihanna in 2011. However, in 2019, he made a career change and set his sights on the fashion industry. One of his favorite brands, Sergio Tacchini, was difficult to locate in the United States, so he reached out to the brand directly. Chris discussed relaunching the Sergio Tacchini label in Los Angeles, and thus, the STLA Collection was born. Ellen was super proud of her husband following his passion, no matter his age. “He’s been in the music business for 25 years and he changed careers at 50. And he killed it,” she told Us Weekly. “I mean, knocked it out of the park. It’s amazing! So for anybody who feels they’re stuck, you can change your career at any age.”
Chris popped the question in November 2006, three years after their fateful meeting in a grocery store, with a 3.5-carat diamond ring. They officially said their ‘I do’s on November 9, 2007 at New York City Hall. The NYC mayor at the time, Michael Bloomberg, officiated the wedding. “We flew out on a redeye Thursday night. Friday morning, we woke up, went to City Hall, had the wedding really quick, and then we went to Lupa for lunch after,” Ellen told Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest in 2017. “We had the whole weekend and no one knew, so we had that to ourselves.” As for the actress’ marriage tips, Ellen said in 2018, “Just don’t try to change people. They are who they are, and they were fine when you married them, so don’t expect them to change.”
