Ellen Pompeo revealed she has not spoken with former Grey’s Anatomy co-star Patrick Dempsey since he left the show.

Dempsey starred as Pompeo’s love interest Dr Derek Shepherd on the medical drama for 11 seasons before leaving in 2015.

During an appearance on Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith, her daughter Willow Smith and mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, Pompeo picked a question out of a bowl that read: “Are you and Patrick Dempsey still friends?”

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I wanna thank @ellenpompeo for blessing the table this week with such a candid conversation. What I love about Ellen is that she’s willing to sit in the fire and burn if need be. She knows conversations about race are risky and aren’t without criticism.  She also knows that’s she’s learning along the way HOW to talk about race (like we all are) and will sometimes make mistakes a long the way (like many of us do). BUT… she’s not afraid and is willing to learn, she’s willing to fight, she’s willing to listen, she’s willing to understand, and she’s willing to take responsibility. In my eyes, her commitment and FEARLESSNESS makes her a gangsta’ ally in the mission to unify 🙌🏽✨Her episode is streaming now- link in profile @redtabletalk #RedTableTalk

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She replied: “We haven’t spoken since he’s left the show. I have no hard feelings toward him, he’s a wonderful actor, and we made, you know, the best TV you could make together.

“That’s a talented man right there. He did 11 amazing years. Typically when people leave the show, they need to sort of re-find themselves, who they are, without the show, because the show takes up so much of your life.

“You need that time to figure out who you are without the show. So, we have not spoken but I will always have a place in my heart for Patrick.”

During the episode, Pompeo, 49, discussed her interracial marriage with music producer, Chris Ivery. The couple wed in 2007 and have three children.

Pompeo discussed growing up in an Italian-Irish neighbourhood in Boston and said, “It doesn’t get anymore racist than that”.

She added: “The racism is what drew me to black people. Because I was like, ‘What is it? What is this anger and this name-calling?’ And it just made me so curious.”

Pinkett Smith, who has been married to Hollywood actor Will Smith for 21 years, spoke about her experiences with white women.

She said: “I’m always feeling like in a certain way, white women are looking down at black women in a certain matter – like, they’re angry, they’re mean.”

And Pinkett Smith said she consciously changed how she behaved so she was not stereotyped.