How Ellen Pompeo's husband felt about intimate 'Grey's Anatomy' scenes with Patrick Dempsey

As an actor, sometimes you have to cuddle up with someone who isn't your significant other -- and for Ellen Pompeo's husband, that part of the job took some getting used to.

Pompeo, who stars as Dr. Meredith Grey on "Grey's Anatomy," recalled how her husband, Chris Ivery, reacted to her on-screen affairs with Patrick Dempsey's Dr. Derek Shepherd -- aka McDreamy.

The Golden Globe-nominated actress, who is going on 14 years of marriage with Ivery, said, "Poor guy had no idea what he was getting into."

"I remember in the beginning it was really hard for him," Pompeo admitted on a recent episode of the "Ladies First with Laura Brown" podcast.

"He was like, '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 recalled.

Dempsey left the popular medical drama in 2015 after 11 seasons. He did, however, return as a guest star during season 17.

Pompeo and Ivery, who married in 2007, share three children together.

"Grey's Anatomy" season 18 is set to premiere Sept. 30 on ABC.