‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Camilla Luddington Speaks on Elisabeth Finch

The Writers Hangout Podcast is all ears! In today’s episode, we delve into the latest updates on Elisabeth Finch through the insights of Camilla Luddington and Jessica Capshaw, beloved actors from the iconic medical drama "Grey's Anatomy." Capshaw beautifully portrayed Dr. Arizona Robbins, while Luddington shines as Dr. Josephine "Jo" Wilson. Together, they also co-host the charming podcast "Call It What It Is," where they share valuable life lessons, talk about friendships, and touch on various engaging topics, including Elisabeth Finch.  

Transcript

0:11

Hello, my name is Sandy Adamidis, the social media director for the Page International Screenwriting Awards and your host for the Writers Hangout, a podcast that celebrates the many From inspiration to the first draft, revising, getting the project made, and everything in between. We'll talk to the best and the brightest in the entertainment industry, and create a space where you can hang out, learn from the pros, and have fun. Hey, writers and friends. It's Sandy. I'm coming to you from Studio City, the jewel of the Send Fernando Valley. Now you've been asking me for an update on Elizabeth Finch, the writer from Grey's Anatomy, who faked cancer and was let go from the show. Elizabeth has been pretty quiet. There hasn't been very much since her apology post and that interview she did With the ankle now for the first time, two actors who worked on Grey's Anatomy and have a podcast have commented on Elizabeth I'm gonna play the episode from that podcast. It's again, by two actors from Grey's Anatomy, Jessica Capshaw, and Camilla Ludington. I'm not gonna play the entire episode, I recommend you give it a listen. The name is, call It Like It Is, and it's an iHeartRadio production here on the Writer's Hangout. we've done three episodes on Elizabeth, and you can find all three of those episodes combined entitled, and I'm pretty proud of this title. all three episodes of the unbelievable true story of Elizabeth Finch and Gray's Anatomy. It was published on May 19th, 2024. So if you wanna go back and listen for the first time, I promise you, you won't be disappointed. There is so much to this story. So hit pause and go back. Otherwise, let's do a quick review of Elizabeth Finch. I have no idea if you can hear that plane, In 2014, Elizabeth Finch was hired to write for the TV series Grey's Anatomy, and she rose in the ranks to become one of the co-producers on the TV series. Elizabeth Finch told everyone she had a rare and deadly cancer for over a decade. This gained her special treatment at work, and more times than not, the other writers on staff had to finish her scripts When she ran off to some destination with a suitcase, packed with lies, you know how much money those other writers got for helping Elizabeth write those scripts? Nothing. Zero. Nada. and Elizabeth, she's gonna be making residuals off those scripts and off those other writer's work for the rest of her life. Now, Elizabeth started her career on other shows like. True Blood, no. Ordinarily Family and Vampire Diaries, A Vanity Fair investigation revealed that Elizabeth had fabricated her illness, that she was lying about having cancer and so much more. Now that's the story in a nutshell. Elizabeth destroyed lives, hurt people, and dragged her ex-wife and her ex-wife's kids through hell. Before we listen to the podcast, I want to highlight another of Elizabeth's web of Lies There was a Grey's character, Joe Wilson played by Camilla Ludington that Elizabeth seemed to be obsessed with. yes. The podcast we are about to listen to is co-hosted by that, Joe Wilson, Camilla Ludington. And her co-host Jessica Capshaw. Now, if Jessica Capshaw's name sounds familiar, that's because she's the daughter of Kate Capshaw from Spielberg's Film, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. doom is where Kate and Spielberg met and fell in love way back in 1983. Now Camilla Ludington, as I said, played Dr. Joe Wilson on Grey's Anatomy Drama for 12 season. At the end of October, 2018, tragedy struck when 11 people were shot and killed at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the city where Elizabeth attended college. Elizabeth told the other Grey's writers that her friend from college had been one of the victims. Of course, Finch took it as far as she could and claimed She went to Pittsburgh and cleaned up her friend's body from the synagogue floor following what. She said was Jewish tradition explaining Jews must be buried within 24 hours with all of their body parts according to Vanity Fair. Once back in the writer's room, Elizabeth would claim that any mention of guns, loud noise, or even a dream catcher with a tree of life inspired, designed, triggered her PTSD. During this time, Elizabeth became ultra focused on a grace character, a troubled young surgeon named Joe Wilson. Played by Full circle, Camilla Ludington from the podcast I will be playing for you. In the Gray's writer's room, Elizabeth came up with a pitch for Joe Wilson's character. She wanted Joe Wilson to meet a patient who's a rape victim. Joe starts confronting her own past as an abused wife, and learns that she's a product of rape and checks herself into a mental health facility. To deal with the trauma. Elizabeth said that her pitch was based on a friend. Now I remember reading a story, I forget from where about this story of finding out that you're a product of rape. Actually came from young staff writer on the show and the young staff writer had shared. Her story with Elizabeth and Elizabeth just outright stole that story and pitched it for Joe, the character that she was obsessed with. now the staff writer felt powerless to do anything. She didn't wanna make any waves. She thought she might lose her job. And to placate herself to just make herself feel better. She told herself that at least the story was being told. Now, can you guess what Elizabeth is going to do next? Elizabeth Finch goes into her boss's office at Grey's Anatomy and says, I need some rest. And then she checks herself into an Arizona mental health treatment center there under the assumed name of. Gray's Anatomy character Joe Wilson. Elizabeth says she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of her friend who had been one of the Tree of Life victims. Oh, Elizabeth the Webb that you weave. After this message, I'll play a clip from Jessica and Camilla's podcast. Call it like it is, and after the clip I'll give you my opinion on what the two women discussed. This episode of The Writer's Hangout is brought to you by podcast, the podcast for people who want to launch, grow, and monetize. A successful podcast writers have you. Ever thought about starting a podcast? Do you even know where to start? If you said no? I was just like you. Back in 2022 when the writers hangout started. Now why does 2022 ring a bell for you? Oh yeah, we were in a pandemic, which meant none of my incredibly talented friends could drop by and help me brainstorm what to do. I cried a lot of tears and frustration before that first episode was launched. Do you hear me? GarageBand? I wish I had Podcast Craft back then. Podcast Craft takes you from novice podcaster to Confident Broadcaster. They'll teach you how to start and grow successful podcast in their easy to follow sessions. You can find podCraft@podcraft.net, or anywhere you get your podcasts. Welcome back. Now I'm gonna play the clip for you. it's kind of difficult to tell the two women's voices apart, especially'cause this is the first time you are going to hear them. Camilla. Who played the character of Joe Speaks first, so you'll kind of get to know her voice before Jessica speaks. Also, the two women refer to the documentary that is Anatomy of Lies, which aired on Peacock, and it's really good. Go watch it.

Sandy: 10:29

Because I'm like this. I'm like, I would've known, right? Like I would know that person's lying. And then you have an experience where it basically feels like you're in a Dateline documentary and you realize like, I did not know. I truly did not know. And I think that that kind of throws you for a loop because then you feel like your own instinct on stuff is way off. And so it makes you question your I, this is what I don't like about it. It makes you start questioning yourself. Yeah. Like you're not just questioning that person. Now it's like, why didn't I see that? Yeah. How did I, how did I believe that? And I don't like the self-doubt. And then by the way, it can affect other areas of your life where now you're meeting somebody and they say something that sounds maybe outlandish about themselves and or even not so, and you're like, is that true? Yeah. I don't know. I've experienced someone that has lied about the most wild, crazy things. Yeah. I have to say with Fiche, who's the, the writer who was in, in question mm-hmm. In the, in the documentary. I, it never, like, it never occurred to me to not believe her. You, I mean, there was never a moment where I was thinking, yeah, like the things that she lied about. You could never in a million years imagine questioning. Yeah, this is somebody that lied to us. I mean, and I don't know if you guys have ever had this experience about many things, but about cancer, right? So that's something that you don't ever imagine someone could ever lie about, and then offered up specific information about or experience with it what it felt like. But now I'm interested because you said that you were not surprised. You were surprised of course, but it wasn't like a gobsmack, like I was like, you know. Yeah. It's so hard to explain. I like, of course, I was surprised that someone, that she, of course, I was surprised that she wasn't who she really said she was and she was not mm-hmm. Reporting any experiences that were actually hers. Um, but I wasn't surprised that someone could do that. And I sort of just felt like, oh, well. Like she was really good at that.'cause I believed her, but again, I was not sitting in the seat of the woman who she married and represented a completely different life too. That's a whole different, that feels like a movie. That feels like a movie for sure. Um, I will say this because I have been asked to comment on this documentary, very strange experience. Um. Seeing yourself in that kind of way, and I don't personally don't wanna talk about my experience on set. With this person. Um, it's hard for me to even, you know, uh, with this person, but I will say that what, what happened? I will say one little piece of information that nobody knows, it's not in the documentary, and I will share it here on the podcast. What I really hate again about this is it makes you go back and sort of question all the different things. And this person, I remember going to Hawaii for the first time. And, uh, and I was so excited that I could afford going to Hawaii. I was never, you know, able to afford something so tropical and glamorous. And, uh, I told everybody that I was going to Kauai and I was really excited and I was going with my boyfriend, who's now my husband, obviously. And um, I think it was about three days into that trip and. Fiji Finch was sat at the bar in the hotel. What? Yes. Not the airport bar, the ho, the hotel where you were in Hawaii. The hotel where I was in Kauai, sat in the bar three days into my trip. What are you talking about? Yes, she was with somebody else and I just remember thinking it was the most random, um. Coincidence, coincidence. Had you told her what hotel you were going to? I had probably told. It's funny.'cause then, then you start to do this, right? You start to think back about like, who should I tell? You know? Um, I had told so many people where I was going, I'm sure I would've told her and I. Is there a world in which like she was just happened to be on vacation at the same time as me at that hotel in Hawaii. Sure. There's definitely a world where that happens. People run into each other like it's crazy. Yeah. I don't know, but I don't like the now questioning I. Of whether like, you know, that going back and, and sort of reevaluating all those things. Did she check in as Joe Wilson? That's not even funny. I just wonder, God, I won't talk about set. I don't, it doesn't make me feel comfortable. Um, but I will share that, that story that happened in my personal life with her. Yeah. Well I saw her all the time on set. But again, I, I, I completely believed everything she said. There was never a moment of suspicion. I never thought That's funny that she said that, like that. Nothing, nothing, nothing. And when I left, I remember having a really, she came and found me and we ended up having a really, really long conversation mm-hmm. Outside my trailer, um, because she was so sad that I was leaving and wanted to talk about it. And, um. Maybe she wasn't sad at all, Camilla. Well, this is what I'm saying that we do. I mean, this is what I'm saying, like what is true and what's not true. Yeah. And I don't like, I don't like having felt like someone was like, that was in our orbit. No. And not feeling like I sensed any of that, the truth myself, it just is uncomfortable and it, you know, none of it feels good.

16:27

Fascinating, right. Writers. I really feel for Camilla, she wants to speak out about this, terrible moment in her life, but I also get the feeling that she doesn't want to draw any more attention from a person like Elizabeth Finch. I totally believe that Elizabeth Finch found out where Camilla was staying, didn't care that she was gonna be there with her boyfriend, soon to be husband, and got on a plane and sat in that bar and waited and waited till she had that accidental run in with the person that she had been stalking. There is just. No way that that was a coincidence. and I don't think that Camilla was being naive at all. There's this, weird relationship between writers and actors. In fact, I would love to do an episode, based on this, just based on the relationship between writers and actors, and we will do that. But it must have been so creepy for Camilla to know that this person was stalking her. That's just a horrible feeling. And Jessica also wondering was. Elizabeth really being honest with her that she was gonna miss her, or perhaps that Elizabeth was coming to say, we're really going to miss you, and will you invite me to your next big party? Elizabeth Finch, she has touched so many people's lives in this town and not in a very good way, and I don't mean to laugh it. It's just that so much destruction has come from this one person, and that's just one story in Hollywood. And that's a wrap for the Writer's Hangout. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment to leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. Your positive feedback will help us keep the show going so we can continue bringing you more future episodes. Remember, keep writing. The world needs your stories. The Writers Hangout is sponsored by the Page International Screenwriting Awards, with executive producer Kristen Overn, producer Sandy Adamides, and myself, Terry Sampson. And our music is composed by Ethan Stoller.