Ellen Pompeo Let Go of Her 'Ego' to Stay 13 Seasons on 'Grey's Anatomy'

— -- "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo said she has let herself age gracefully in Hollywood even though her ego makes it hard to do so.

“You know, to see your skin doesn't look the same,” Pompeo, 46, said in an interview that aired today on “Good Morning America" of one of the challenges of aging on a hit TV show.

“I think as an actor flaws are a necessity,” she said, explaining why she has nonetheless let herself age naturally. “Nobody is perfect, and I'm not and I'm OK with that.”

Pompeo’s decision to stay at the helm of “Grey’s Anatomy” for the ABC show’s 13 seasons, a decision she made a decade ago at the age of 33, is one she said was made in part because of the lack of substantial roles for mature women in Hollywood.

“I have to go out into the landscape and try to get jobs and deal with, you know, 'Am I good enough? Am I pretty enough? Am I smart enough? Am I talented enough? Am I -- all this,’” she said. “This [Grey’s Anatomy] is a huge hit.

“You really have to, sort of, delineate your ego from everything,” Pompeo explained. “You know, because your ego is what would drive you to say, "Oh, this isn't cool and I need to go be a movie star or do something else.’”

Pompeo said one of the positives of aging is the wisdom you gain, saying, "Really, all you have in your youth is your looks."

When asked what she would hope to be left with when her looks fade, Pompeo replied, “Hopefully a fantastic character, an integrity, and a soul and compassion. You still have all the things that whoever put us on this planet intended us to be.”

Pompeo, the mother of two young daughters, said that although change in Hollywood is not coming “dramatically enough,” she is seeing progress for women of a certain age.

“You know, there are some amazing women out there doing amazing things,” she said.

Pompeo’s on-screen character, Meredith Gray, watched her love, “McDreamy,” played by Patrick Dempsey, die suddenly last year.

Behind the scenes, Pompeo said she misses her favorite scene partner, Sandra Oh, who played Cristina Yang, the most.

“Sandra Oh was a massive, massive part of this show and I was devastated to lose her,” she said. “I didn't think the show would survive after losing her, and it did.

“And I think that people tune in to see what is Meredith going to do without her person, so I think that, you know, as hard as change is, I think it's necessary.”