Ellis Grey

Ellis Grey was the mother of Meredith Grey and the ex-wife of Thatcher Grey. She was also the birth mother of Maggie Pierce. During her time, she was a world famous surgeon who was twice honored with the Harper Avery Award. She was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's
Ellis was the mother of Meredith Grey. When first introduced to Ellis, she was suffering from Alzheimer's and resided at the Roseridge Home for Extended Care. Her case was advanced, and she most often thought she was still completing her residency. As a result, she seldom recognized her daughter, but delighted in visits from Richard Webber. When Richard decided to salvage his marriage to Adele, Meredith was forced to break the news to Ellis that he would not be visiting any more, which caused her to relive their initial break-up.

She briefly became lucid ("Wishin' and Hopin'") and the last thing she remembered was her fight with Meredith about going to medical school. On discovery she had Alzheimer's she was distraught and had a cardiac episode, leading to her being admitted to Seattle Grace. While she was there, she met Cristina and Derek, showing how perceptive she really is, working out the close relationship with Cristina and Meredith and working out Derek is the boyfriend, despite only short periods of contact with each of them.

Death
While Meredith's life lingered in the balance after drowning, Ellis flatlined and was unable to be revived. And though her relationship with Meredith hadn't always been strong (she told her daughter that she was just 'ordinary' after finding out about Derek in her one day of lucidity), everything was set right and Meredith's feelings were fine with her mother's death when, as Meredith was hanging between life and death, she saw her mother's spirit who told her she was 'anything but ordinary.' She was later cremated, put into a beautiful urn, and for a time was "hanging out in the back of Meredith's closet". Her ashes were later washed down a surgical sink at Seattle Grace Hospital by Meredith and Richard, who saw it as a fitting tribute for her final resting place to be so closely associated with the hospital which she dedicated her life to.

Personality
She was extremely overbearing, intense, driven, and hardworking.

Richard Webber
During her residency, she had an affair with former SGH Chief of Surgery, Dr. Richard Webber, when they were both residents. As residents, the two doctors had a defining moment in both their careers and their relationship when they took care of one of the first patients diagnosed with G.R.I.D. (Gay-related immune deficiency, an early name for AIDS).

It's very likely that the new doctor working at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital is Richard's biological daughter with Ellis, as she, Margaret Pierce, stated that Ellis Grey is her birth mom.

Thatcher Grey
She was married about 30 years ago to Thatcher Grey, who left the family when Meredith was young, partly as a result of Ellis's affair. Ellis and Richard planned to leave their respective partners and get married but eventually Richard chose Adele over Ellis, although he did still have feelings for her.

Ellis decided to slit her wrists in front of Meredith and forbade her to call an ambulance. When her mother passed out Meredith rang an ambulance and her mother lived. Years later with the help of her psychiatrist Meredith realized that her mother wasn't trying to commit suicide, she cut her wrists in the hopes that Richard would find out and take her back. However, Richard never heard about the incident and she was too stubborn to ask.

Career
After her divorce with Thatcher and break-up with Richard, Ellis moved with Meredith to pursue a position at Boston General. Her distinguished career included tenures at the Mayo Clinic and for the U.N., and she is noted for pioneering an operation called the laparoscopic Grey Method and won the Harper Avery award twice.

She has also documented a significant aspect of her surgical training, in the form of videos, which were watched while the group were still interns, and in her journals, writing about her relationship with Richard and her surgical training, referencing staff at Seattle Grace, such as Margaret Campbell, and which Cristina greatly enjoys, for both medicine and romance. According to her journals, the decision of whether or not Ellis would get the first solo surgery was the greatest and most terrifying moment in her life.

Notes and Trivia

 * She is allergic to penicillin.
 * In her Alzheimer's state, she believes that George is Thatcher, that Burke is Richard and that Mererdith is a close friend from college.
 * She was played by Sarah Paulson in The Time Warp.
 * Richard has mentioned that had she not moved to Boston, Ellis would have been chief of surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital.
 * If/Then explores this possibility as she is both chief of staff and chief of surgery at Seattle Grace Hospital.
 * She met Richard Webber when her daughter was three.
 * She won her first Harper Avery Award in 1988, when she was a fellow.
 * She was nominated for a Harper Avery Award five times in total.
 * After Meredith, she had a second child whom she gave up for adoption. That child later found her name in the adoption records and came to work at Grey Sloan Memorial as the new head of Cardio, Dr. Margaret Pierce. This is likely why she split from Thatcher.