Watch: Grey's Anatomy's Kate Walsh Makes Emotional Return During Season 22 EpisodeDr. Addison Montgomery's love life is coding. During Grey's Anatomy's Jan. 29 episode, Kate Walsh made a temporary return to Grey Sloan Memorial to encourage her character's former sister-in-law Dr. Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) to get back to work. Indeed, as Amelia continues her sabbatical following the death of Dr. Monica Beltran (Natalie Morales), which was confirmed in the season 22 premiere, Addison returns to Seattle to seek her help with a patient Emma (Aneasa Yacoub) and drops a major bombshell about her marriage to husband Jake (Benjamin Bratt). "Jake's leaving me," Addison tells Amelia as a last stitch effort to get the neurosurgeon in the OR. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want you to ask any questions about it. All I want is for Emma to get the best care possible and that's you." Despite the devastating news, Amelia finally relents after her temporary leave of absence that spanned since the season's third episode. As she tells Addison, "I will get my privileges reinstated." However, tensions do not necessarily deescalate from there. In the OR, Amelia kicks Addison out due to her emotions over the patient's flailing heart rate. readIt's a Beautiful Day to Operate on These Grey's Anatomy SecretsLater, Addison takes a call from Dr. Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr.), admitting, "I'm turning everyone who once supported me into an enemy." But while Addison is clearly going through an internal battle throughout her time at Grey Sloan Memorial, she's finally able to open up about her rough patch with Jake to Amelia by the episode's end. "He says when I'm home I'm barely there," she explained. "He says I'm not a good partner. And he's right. I forgot an anniversary. I forgot a birthday. I am not the woman he married anymore."Anne Marie Fox/Disney via Getty ImagesTearing up, she laments, "But nothing is what it used to be. I don't even recognize science anymore." Indeed, Addison admitted that she can't choose her personal life over her job, considering how many patients need her care. To which Amelia provides a wise salve, "I think if he's asking you to choose, something is probably already fundamentally broken." Addison's marriage might be over, but Amelia finally confirmed at the end of their heart-to-heart that her sabbatical is over. "Fine," she tells Addison. "I'll go back to work." For more on other departed Grey's Anatomy doctors, keep reading...
Craig Sjodin/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesIsaiah Washington as Preston BurkeIn season three, Burke abandoned Cristina at the altar and then just took off, eventually winning a Harper Avery award elsewhere and then at some point, moving to Zurich, Switzerland to open his own hi-tech hospital. He got married, started a family, and then in season 10, he invited Cristina to his hospital to take it over for him as he retired. Isaiah Washington left the series after it was reported that he called costar T.R. Knight a gay slur during an argument on set with Patrick Dempsey, and all his defenses just kept making it worse before he finally was let go from the series. Apparently he and ABC made up, because they let him return for a second in 2014. As for what Washington has said of the incident? He later issued a public apology, adding in another statement, "I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help." In the years since his Grey's Anatomy departure,he has starred as Thelonious Jaha on The CW's The 100, until his character died in season five, followed by Starz' critically acclaimed P-Valley.
Frank Ockenfels/Walt Disney Television via Getty ImagesKatherine Heigl as Izzie StevensIzzie Stevens got cancer, married Alex Karev, survived the cancer, and then sorta just disappeared in season six. She eventually returned for a second and admitted she didn't feel like Seattle was her home anymore. Later, Alex got sent divorce papers, and now we know Izzie secretly had Alex's twins, lives on a ranch in Kansas, and became a surgical oncologist. Katherine Heigl's exit basically began in 2008 when she withdrew her name from Emmy consideration because she didn't feel like the material deserved it. In 2010, the character disappeared completely. She said in the years since that she would like to return to the character, but creator Shonda Rhimes did not. "I'm done with that story," she told TVLine in 2015. Heigl, then a burgeoning romcom star, went on to star in a few more romcoms before returning to TV with State of Affairs, then Doubt, and more recently, she had an arc Suits and starred in Firefly Lane until it ended in 2023. Ron Tom/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesEdward Herrmann as Intern NormanIntern Norman arrived in season four and had to fend off assumptions that he was an attending, rather than an intern, due to his age. He messed up and told the w