TV & Movies

Grey’s Star Jessica Capshaw Reacts To Elisabeth Finch Cancer Scandal

“She wasn’t who she really said she was.”

by Sam Ramsden
GREY'S ANATOMY - "Jukebox Hero" - Richard and the attendings set out to make Eliza's first day at Gr...
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It “never occurred” to Grey’s Anatomy’s Jessica Capshaw that one of the show’s writers, Elisabeth R. Finch, was lying about her cancer diagnosis.

Speaking on the Oct. 28 episode of her Call It What It Is podcast, Capshaw and her co-host, Camilla Luddington, discussed Peacock’s Anatomy of Lies — a three-part documentary that delves into the story of Finch, who lied about having cancer while working in the Grey’s Anatomy writers room.

“It never occurred to me to not believe her,” said Capshaw, who first joined Grey’s in 2009 as Dr. Arizona Robbins. “The things that she lied about, you could never in a million years imagine questioning.”

She continued, “I was surprised that she wasn’t who she really said she was, and she was not reporting any experiences that were actually hers, but I wasn’t surprised that someone could do that. I sort of just felt like ... ‘Well, she was really good at that,’ because I believed her.”

The actor also recalled her decision to leave Grey’s in 2018, revealing that she and Finch had a “really, really long conversation” at the time. “She was so sad that I was leaving and wanted to talk about it,” she added.

Grey’s Anatomy stars Jessica Capshaw and Camilla LuddingtonRichard Cartwright/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

While reluctant to discuss her time on set with Finch, Capshaw’s podcast co-host Luddington, who plays Dr. Josephine Wilson on Grey’s, recalled a strange interaction she had with the former writer before the scandal came to light.

“I remember going to Hawaii for the first time, and I was so excited that I could afford to go to Hawaii,” Luddington said. “I told everybody that I was going to Kauai ... I think it was about three days into that trip and [Finch] was sat at the bar in the hotel.” She concluded, “I just remember thinking it was the most random coincidence.”

Anatomy Of Finch’s Lies

Finch first joined the Grey’s Anatomy writing team in 2014. She was hired by the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes, after the publication of an essay about her purported cancer diagnosis, which later directly inspired storylines featured on the show.

Reports that Finch may not have been truthful about her medical history surfaced in May 2022, and Vanity Fair later published a two-part exposé. Finch stepped away from the show after being put on administrative leave.

In a December 2022 interview with The Ankler, the ex-Grey’s writer finally confessed to making up her cancer diagnosis. She called the lie “the biggest mistake of my life” and admitted, “I’ve never had any form of cancer.”

Following the premiere of Peacock’s Anatomy of Lies on Oct. 15, Finch addressed her actions in a new statement, writing that there is “no justification” for what she did.