Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest TV writers of all time, creating iconic shows fans can’t stop talking about. But which of her shows’ stars — past or present — is she closest with now?
“Oh, that’s interesting,” Rhimes, 55, said during the Wednesday, October 8, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast before thinking long and hard about her answer.
She eventually picked Scott Foley, who played Jake Ballard on Scandal from 2013 to 2018. When explaining why he topped the list over the likes of her leading ladies — including Scandal’s Kerry Washington or Grey’s Anatomy’s Ellen Pompeo — Rhimes said their physical proximity to one another has strengthened their friendship.
“The reason is because he and I and his wife are great friends,” Rhimes said. “We live in the same town now. I moved to Connecticut and I kinda moved to the town they moved to, which is a stalker move but wasn’t on purpose.”
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Rhimes, who moved to Connecticut from Los Angeles during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, noted that now their “kids are friends” too.
The TV producer also revealed that she and Foley’s wife, Marika Domińczyk, have become “golf buddies” after learning the sport together. (This summer, Domińczyk, 45, shared a video via Instagram playing golf with Rhimes, with whom she has matching shirts and jackets.)
While Rhimes and Foley, as well as his family, have become part of her Connecticut squad, her work on Scandal wasn’t what put the writer on the map.
Rhimes wrote 2002’s Crossroads and then the story and screenplay for 2004’s The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement before making her way to television. In 2005, Rhimes created Grey’s Anatomy, which as of this week has hit 450 episodes.
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She followed up her Grey’s success with the spinoff Private Practice, which aired from 2007 to 2013.
Next up was Scandal, which premiered in 2012 and wrapped after seven seasons in 2018. Another Grey’s spinoff Station 19 premiered in 2018 and ended in 2024, but Rhimes’ legacy is still being added to with Netflix’s Bridgerton, which she executive produces, and its spinoff Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, which she created.
While reflecting on her career on “Call Her Daddy,” Rhimes revealed her go-to picks from her shows during a rapid-fire question session. For example, when asked, “Which character would you switch lives with for a day?” she immediately picked Grey’s doctor Christina Yang, played by Sandra Oh.
If Rhimes was “in the middle of a crisis” she said the first person she’d call would be Scandal’s Olivia Pope, played by Washington.
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When asked what is something she’s taken from a set, Rhimes revealed, “I might get in trouble for this. I took the resolute desk — the John F. Kennedy resolute desk — that Fitz has.”
She was referring to the desk that Tony Goldwyn’s Scandal character, Fitzgerald “Fitz” Grant worked at throughout the ABC series.
“I have that. I’ve taken a lot of things,” Rhimes said, joking, “I could probably have a museum.”