Addison Forbes Montgomery

"Then slowly, over time, everything changes. And you're no longer this young thing, and you don't believe in fairytales and "perfect" isn't in your vocabulary. And then suddenly, here is this man and he becomes so familiar to you that one day you find yourself looking at him thinking I could love this person for the rest of my life."

- Addison Montgomery

Addison Adrianne Forbes Montgomery (formerly Montgomery-Shepherd) is a character in Grey's Anatomy, and its spin-off series, Private Practice. Addison is sometimes difficult and uncompromising but she can be very kind and accepting. She is regarded to be the best in her field as a board-certified OB/GYN, subspecializing in Maternal-Fetal Medicine (Perinatology), and is also one of the foremost neonatal surgeons in the country; she also completed a medical genetics fellowship focusing on cystic fibrosis. She married Derek Shepherd in New York, but he left her when she cheated on him with his best friend, Mark Sloan. She followed him to Seattle, where they gave their marriage another try, but failed, with Derek choosing Meredith. A while after the divorce, she moved to a private practice in L.A. Later, after the practice is dissolved, she funds and renames the practice Seaside Health and Wellness.

Early Life
Addison was born in Connecticut in 1967 and was born into a wealthy background with her brother Archer (a neurologist), father "The Captain" (a doctor & lecturer) and mother Bizzy. Addison is entitled to a twenty five million dollar trust fund and owns three properties: a New York brownstone, a house in The Hamptons, and a house at Santa Monica. She now lives beside a beach in Malibu next door to an old friend, Sam Bennett.

When she was seven, she fell off her bike in the vineyard while going downhill because her tire came off. She flipped over the handlebars and scraped her face, but Archer picked her up, told her it was going to be okay, and carried her the half a mile back home. This is how Addison has always seen her brother, as the big brother who carried her home.

From the age of eight, Addison was mixing her father, The Captain's drinks.

When she was 10, Addison also had to deny her father's affair with his secretary, waiting for "daddy" while he was having sex in his office, and then pretending she had fun getting ice-cream with her father. Her father also had affairs with (among others) 3 maids, 4 of Addison's nannies, Jolene her French tutor and the chef. She only discovered in adulthood that it was her mother cheated first, with a woman but chose to stay married because she already had a family. Captain knew but also stayed with her, in love, and had affairs with other women.

When she went to prom in high school, it was with Skippy Gold. Addison was a band geek with braces and a lisp, she was forced to talk about Star Wars the whole night.

Marriage Problems with Derek
Upon Richard's request to help out with a patient, Addison visited Seattle. When she arrived at the hospital, she noticed Meredith and Derek, her husband, talking to each other. She walked over and while he saw her doing so, Derek already apoligized to Meredith. Addison then introduced herself as Derek's wife, about whom Meredith knew nothing. ("Who's Zoomin' Who?")

First Return to Seattle
Later, Addison returned to Seattle Grace Hospital to treat a pregnant woman suffering from ectopia cordis, in which the fetus's heart was growing outside of the body. Although she seemed somewhat happy to be back in Seattle, she made no mistake that the visit wasn't permanent and she had every intention of returning to Oceanside Wellness Center. Addison also showed that the history between her, Meredith and Derek was in the past as she was able to hug Meredith and be genuinly happy for them - still unaware that they had broken up.

During her stay, in which the surgery on both mother and child were successful due to Addison, Mark and Erica's expertise, Adisson was forced to realize that a lot had changed in her absence (particularly the breakdown of Callie and George's marriage, Meredith and Derek's break up and his relationship with Rose as well as Bailey and Tucker's marital issues.)

When the chief approached her and attempted to persuade her to stay at Seattle Grace, Addison told him that she now knew it was the right thing to leave and told him to fill her position. Before returning to Los Angeles, however, Addison went to Joe's bar and warned Meredith that, even though she was now zen, she wanted to "kick her ass" for not fighting for Derek and allowing his new girlfriend to have the happily ever after that she deserved. ("Piece of My Heart")

Season 2
Addison's status in the dating world remained uncertain as she had been stood up by Kevin after she went to find him at the station, and remained unaware that Pete had gone to her house the same night. Some time later, Addison and Naomi found themselves at odds regarding Naomi allowing a couple to conceive a child through Naomi's fertility treatment who would act as an organ donor for their ill child. When the parents demanded Addison birth their child three weeks premature, an ethical debate raged between Addison and Naomi. Addison eventually learned Naomi agreed to help the couple due to the practice's financial trouble that she was concealing from the group. Despite Naomi's pleas, Addison told Sam that the partice was in trouble. At the same time, Kevin returned for Addison to tell her that he stood her up to train for the SWAT team and the two flirted, leaving their future ambiguous. ("A Family Thing")

Armed with the knowledge of the practice's struggles, Sam and Addison formed a hostile takeover of leadership of the practice and each doctor worked to save the practice from extinction. Addison and Naomi's friendship, however, couldn't stand what Naomi saw to be a betrayal and Naomi cut her best friend out of her personal life, leaving only professional ties. ("Equal and Opposite")

With her 'family' at the practice in disaray, Addison took Charlotte's offer to do some surgeries for St. Ambrose, in order for her to relieve her frustrations which she claimed 'fall away' when she holds a scalpel. However, rushed off her feet and desperate to do nothing but cut Addison spent no time conversing with her patients and getting to know them. When a stressed and worried husband of a pregnant patient asked her what his wife's name was, and she was unable to answer, she realized that she had become the one who wasn't talking and decided to return to family at the practice for good, refuting Charlotte's offer to work at St. Ambrose full-time. This persuaded her to move forward with Kevin as well as attempting to repair her friendship with Naomi. ("Nothing to Talk About")

Archer's Hospitalization
Having landed in Seattle, a worried Addison was greeted by Richard and Derek as Archer was prepared for a diagnosis. Derek discovered eight cysts caused by the parasites and, having consulted specialists, revealed that they were inoperable as surgery would cause more harm than good. A reluctant Addison refused to give up on Archer and told Derek that she needed him to be a God. As she attempted to pray in the hospital chapel, Addison confessed to Callie that she didn't believe God knew who she was, and so praying for a miracle was worthless. Her old friend then reminded her that she saves babies, and God knows who she is because of it. Having received the push from Sam Derek decided to dothe surgery. Addison watched on tenderhooks as Derek attempted to remove the parasitic cysts but when removing the eighth and final one, it reputured allowing the parasite dig further into his brain. Addison, however, faced much relief when the parasite was caught, extracted and Archer stabalised. To celebrate Derek's success the old friends visited the Emerald City Bar, where they reminised about Derek's love song to Addison. Addison however, recongised that Derek was in her past and despite her gratitude she has to once again make him petty and insignificant in order to move on with her life. ("Before and After")

Derek Shepherd


Although she herself occasionally tended to do so, Miranda Bailey told Addison that she should not define herself by the men in her life.

Addison met her future husband, Derek Shepherd, in medical school in the summer. Their relationship grew and they eventually married. Derek once wrote a song for her.

After medical school, Addison and Derek became extremely successful in their respective fields and each began their own practice in New York. However, this strained their marriage.

Addison was married to Derek Shepherd for eleven years before eventually sleeping with Derek's best friend, a plastic surgeon Mark Sloan, which prompted Derek to leave New York for Seattle at the request of their old friend and mentor, Richard Webber.

After she and Derek initially separated, she tried to get over him even hoping that dying her hair blonde would help. She remained in New York and lived with Mark for two months, during which she became pregnant with Mark's child but she chose to have an abortion. The relationship ended when Mark cheated on Addison and Richard Webber brought her to Seattle Grace for a consult on a difficult case.

After a period of antagonism between her and Derek (in which he continually referred to her as "Satan"), Addison decided to stay on as the Chief of Neonatal Surgery and Chief of OB/GYN at Seattle Grace, signing a two-year contract after she and Derek decided to make an effort to work things out. Unfortunately, he still had feelings for Meredith.

When Addison discovered that her husband slept with Meredith at the hospital-sponsored prom, Addison (in a drunken haze) called Mark Sloan to Seattle. She and Derek agreed that their marriage was over and started divorce proceedings. She asked Mark to go back to New York, but he stayed, expressing his desire to continue their relationship.

When the divorce was finalized, Addison dropped the "Shepherd" from her last name. Wanting to make a fresh start, Derek happily relinquished most of their shared properties (their Brownstone in Manhattan and a residence in The Hamptons) to her believing that she deserved it under his initial impression that she only had a one-night stand with Mark while he carried an affair with Meredith.

Alex Karev
She stayed in Seattle for a long while after and a possibility of a relationship between her and Alex Karev was hinted at, when they kissed him in Joe's bar. She felt it was too strange though and he said he didn't care so the relationship was not brought ahead any further.

During the 60 days that Mark and Addison were trying to remain celibate to give themselves a chance, she slept with Alex. However despite Addison wanting more, he wasn't ready for that.

Mark Sloan
On the one-year anniversary of the day she discovered she was pregnant, Addison and Mark make a deal. If he could abstain from sex for 60 days she would be willing to try a real relationship with him; however, it is she who fails. She engages in a sexual encounter with Alex at the hospital and Mark learns of this after witnessing them stumbling out of an on-call room. She is spared from confessing, however, when Mark selflessly lies to her by telling her he had broken their promise long before as although he had feelings for her, he felt that she shouldn't have to feel guilty.

Pete Wilder
When she left Seattle Grace Hospital for a private practice in L.A, she had a brief interest in her co-worker Pete (whom she kissed), but gave up on any potential romance between the two after Pete stood her up for a date.

Later in the show, Pete and Addison reconnect at a hospital event and go back to her house to have pizza and watch lame TV shows, and



end up having sex. They start a relationship that they describe as "helping eachother" and Addison decides to move on from Sam am since he is seemingly happy with his new girlfriend, making them officially a couple.

When Pete was sick and Addison was looking after Lucas, Pete said "I love you, Violet" to Addison while on fever medication, leading Addison to confront Pete 6 weeks later. Pete states that he will always love Violet as she is the mother of his child, but he wants to be with Addison.

Violet returns from Costa Rica and Addison tells her that Pete will pick her because she is Lucas' mother.

Later on the porch, Sam tells Addison he is sick of doing the right thing and should do the wrong thing, and then kisses her as Pete walks in.

Kevin Nelson
She then directed her attention to Kevin Nelson, a police officer who had asked her out previously. Unfortunately, her trust issues interfered with her and Kevin; issues that resulted in her jealously following Kevin after she thought she was having an affair and ending with her arrest by the SWAT team. Nonetheless, she confessed her issues to Kevin and they resumed to their relationship.



But more troubles came when Addison's brother came to visit, and told Kevin that she was just "enjoying him". When he hadn't called Addison back; she had thought he was avoiding her, but would find out he had been shot. When her brother left; Kevin moved in with her while he was recovering. While Addison now had to deal with Charlotte who was opening up a competing practice on the fourth floor, she was more annoyed by Dr. Wyatt Lockhart, a doctor working for Charlotte's practice who steals a patient of Addison's and convinces Naomi to work for her. In the midst of this Addison, and Kevin's different life styles get in the way of their relationship leading to him moving out. But Addison later calls him telling him she misses him, and they make up.

However, Addison kisses Wyatt after seeing him for who he really is, not the arrogant, headline grabber she thought he was. Kevin repeatedly questions her where she was that night and believes she's lying, Addison claims she was working, and just as Kevin was finally able to drop the questioning, she admits she kissed another man, and they break up. As Addison goes to Wyatt to try a new relationship, she catches Naomi having sex with Archer instead.

Noah Barnes
Noah and Addison freuqently met in the scrub room over the period of the 3 months that Finishing took place, one of them always finishing surgery and scrubbing out and one scrubbing in, leading to their greeting of "Finishing or starting?". They both continued to flirt, not knowing each other's names, and eventually meet in the doctor's lounge where Noah asks for her name. Looking shocked, he quickly leaves.

Addison later meets him as the husband of one of her pregnant patients, Morgan Gellman. Upon this discovery, Addison quickly removed herself from Morgan's case, as she was not comfortable with her feelings for Noah while she treated his wife, feelings which Noah reciprocates. Addison, decides not to make a move in their relationship, refusing to be a home wrecker, after her past mistakes with her ex-husband and his best friend. Noah, however, asks her not to leave the case, as she is the best in her field and Morgan cannot loose another child (she had a string of miscarriages prior to seeing Addison), and he will keep his feelings for Addison in check. However, Noah cannot help the way he feels, and Morgan realises her marriage is in jeopardy, asking Addison to save her child, as that is all that is keeping her and Noah together. She says she sees it in Noah's eyes, he's there, but he's not quite there. When Addison has to perform surgery on Morgan, Noah is not there for her and Morgan is willing to put off the surgery to have Addison find Noah and he eventually does go into the OR to be there for Morgan, with a push from Addison.

Sam Bennett
Sam asked out Addison in Med School, but Addison declined because Naomi was in love with him.

When Addison moved to LA, she bought the house neighboring Sam's house, leading to their developing friendship.

Addison and Sam kissed after a hiking experience gone wrong, while discussing what would have happened had Addison said yes to Sam in Med School. They kissed twice more and Sam propositioned Addison to develop their relationship, but Addison said no because Naomi was her best friend.

Sam dated another Neonatal surgeon, leading Addison to date Pete, although she still loved Sam, and she is seen constantly talking about him to Pete. Sam and Addison had a on-off relationship for  a long time. Sam even asked her to marry him after Addison and Jake had had sex.

Jake Reilly
When Addison's therapist told her to make a change in her life, she met Jake and they flirted over pineapples at the grocery store. They started seeing each other at a coffee shop. However, they both agreed to keep their identities in secret. Jake was going on vacation to Fiji and he asked Addison to come with him. She eventually accepted, but when at the airport, she realized it wasn't right to try to avoid Sam and the problems the practice was suffering.

Later on, Addison started her fertility treatment only to find out her doctor was Jake. He admitted he never left for Fiji. Jake began working at the practice and their relationship grew over time. They got engaged in Season 6 and married in the series finale.

Friendships
Since arriving at Seattle Grace Hospital, Addison has made many friendships with other hospital staff, most notably Callie Torres and Miranda Bailey (Her reasons being she smells nice, she's polite, and she saves babies). Her friendship with the two ladies has often been based on the fact that they act as each other's confidantes. Callie and Addison often discuss their current relationships and love lives, which has ultimately led to a very close friendship between the two. Addison is also very good friends with fellow attending, Preston Burke, and her ex-husband, Derek Shepherd. She still has a friendship with Mark Sloan and a father-daughter bond with Richard Webber, and is often portrayed to be very close to him. The only intern that Addison really bonded with was Alex Karev but she had no grudges against any of the interns and even hugged [Meredith Grey|[Meredith]] as a sign of acceptance of her relationship with Derek. She helped inspire Izzie to become a fighter again.

Addison is believed to have had a good relationship with the Shepherd family, in particular Nancy Shepherd, but, pending Derek's revelation of the true extent of Addison/Mark's relationship, her closeness to the Shepherds is in doubt.



After moving to L.A., Addison returned to Seattle Grace Hospital to help with a patient whose foetus’s heart was growing out of its body. Upon her return, Addison didn't expect much change; but soon learnt that since her departure a lot had changed - for example, the break up of Meredith and Derek and his relationship with Rose, Callie's divorce and the breakdown of Bailey's marriage. During her stay there she met Callie's new friend Erica Hahn and mistakenly interpreted their friendship as a relationship. The mother and child both survived the surgery and Addison prepared to leave Seattle and return to L.A, telling Richard that she needed to come back to see how much she liked her new life. She left, but not before finding Meredith and telling her that she wasn't allowed to let Derek get away.

In the season two premiere of Private Practice, Addison betrayed Naomi by confronting Sam with something about the practice. Naomi drops her friendship with Addison and refuses to talk to her. Eventually she and Naomi began to mend their friendship and at last came back to being best friends. Addison (despite her rocky start) got on well with her new colleagues and friendships were rekindled (as she was friends with Naomi and Sam years ago), friendships were started (Violet, Dell and Coop) and even a short time relationship occurred (with her now friend, Pete).

Career
Addison is considered one of the best surgeons in her field in the world, having patients travel across the country to receive medical and surgical care from her, helped by her excellent bedside manner, but with her relocation to Los Angeles her surgical practice has become limited, with her practice being mostly obstetric work and occasionally genetic counseling with Naomi, however she does have privileges at St. Ambrose Hospital, allowing her to conduct her own surgeries, which she exercises that right frequently. Charlotte King also calls on Addison to consult and take on complex medical cases from the hospital, also adding her to her work load and increasing her OR time.



She completed her surgical residency under the supervision of her now good friend, Dr. Richard Webber (the same place she first met her future husband, Derek Shepherd). During her residency, Richard gave Addison a patient who would not survive, to teach Addison to not get too emotionally involved with her patients, as a result, Addison avoided Richard for almost a year. As an attending, she repeated the same trick with Izzie Stevens and one of the quintuplets the hospital was taking care of.

During her OB/GYN residency, Addison was mentored by Dr. Vivian Carlsmith, a world-renown OB/GYN and pioneer in maternal-fetal medicine. Addison was Vivian's smartest student, eventually surpassing Vivian's skill.

Addison's training also encompasses why she is regarded as one of the best surgeons in her field: she is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology with her sub-specialty in maternal-fetal medicine, board-certified in neonatal surgery, and has completed a fellowship in medical genetics, specializing in cystic fibrosis. She is very open about her credentials, and has relayed them to patients, co-workers, and subordinates that have doubted her abilities.

Surgically, she is highly skilled in complex, often laproscopic and open, obstetrical, neonatal and fetal surgeries. She is one of the only surgeons in the world who can separate fetal blood vessels and correct Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome

She was formerly the attending surgeon in charge of a world-class NICU and state-of-the-art OB/GYN wing at Seattle Grace Hospital. Although highly successful and well paid job, Addison left Seattle to got to L.A to join a private practice.



When she arrived at the practice she was surprised to discover that Naomi, who gave her the job offer, didn't tell the rest of the staff about Addison. The other doctors showed Addison that she was clearly not welcome. On her first day in the practice she performed surgery in an unsterilized delivery room only with the help of Alternative Medicine Specialist, Pete. On the end of the same day, they decided to vote on whether Addison should join the practice or not but Addison put her foot down and told them that she was going to stay even if they wanted her gone. Everyone was impressed by her speech and they decided not to vote after all.

When Richard Webber asked Addison to return for a complex surgery, she agreed, and at the end of the day, Richard attempts to get her back and letting her start the next morning. Addison declined the offer, being sure that leaving was the right thing to do. Similarly, when Naomi would not speak to Addison, Addison took a number of surgeries at St. Ambrose to relieve her frustrations. Charlotte tried to woo her to the hospital with the surgeries but Addison declared the practice as her 'home'.

In Season 2 of Private Practice, Addison learnt that the practice was failing financially so confronted Sam and the two formed a hostile take-over. In a bid to get the practice back to how it used to be Addison accidentally prompted a vote between Sam and Naomi, but was stunned when she was elected to lead the practice as Addison's leadership shone through.

In Season 5, Addison dissolves the practice, funds and renames it to Seaside Health and Wellness.

Notes and Trivia

 * She is 39 in the season 3 finale of Grey's Anatomy.
 * In the back-door pilot episode of Private Practice it was revealed that Addison could no longer conceive, as her antral follicle count was only two.
 * Addison can quote Gandhi.
 * When Derek left her in New York, Addison dyed her hair blonde.
 * Since moving to L.A, Addison describes herself as very zen. She buys aroma therapy candles and takes walks on beaches.
 * When she worked for Seattle Grace Hospital, Richard Webber was paying a salary that made her one of the highest paid surgeons in Northwestern United States.
 * She has special expertise in Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).
 * Addison's SGH ID badge stated her departments were Obstetrics and Gynecology and Neonatology.
 * Despite the fact that she has not been a series regular since the third season of Grey's Anatomy, she has made a guest appearance in every subsequent season, except for season 9:
 * ​Season 4: Piece of My Heart
 * Season 5: Before and After and An Honest Mistake
 * Season 6: Blink
 * Season 7: Song Beneath the Song
 * Season 8: If/Then
 * Addison sometimes wears reading glasses.
 * She has her own lucky scrub cap.
 * Before she was officially a part of the Seattle Grace Hospital attending staff, she wore salmon scrubs. Whether or not she owned these scrubs or if she was wearing the uniform color of OB/GYNs remains unclear. Kate Walsh stated in an interview that it was decided to let Addison wear the dark blue scrubs to make her more part of the attendings group.
 * Addison and her family are WASPs - they only go to Church on Christmas, and she does not know how to pray.
 * In the episode In Which We Meet Addison, a Nice Girl From Somewhere Else, Addison tells Sam that 11 men have seen her naked (12 including him), three of them being Derek Shepherd, Mark Sloan, and Alex Karev.
 * It has been noted that Addison's qualifications are unrealistic for a practising doctor in their late-30s/early-40s, as she has already gained a highly-regarded reputation at her character's introduction to the series. Since Derek and she attended medical school together and were both educated by Richard Webber, it is likely she completed a 5 year residency in general surgery followed by a 2 year fellowship in pediatric surgery focusing on neonatal and fetal surgical procedures, returning to complete a 4 year residency in obstetrics and gynecology followed by a 3 year fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine, with her (likely to be) 2 year fellowship in medical genetics following everything else. In reality, under best circumstances, would make Addison a minimum of 40 years old.
 * It has been indicated throughout seasons five and six of Private Practice that Addison first completed a residency in OB/GYN. This would mean that she followed up with fellowships in maternal-fetal medicine and medical genetics, then completed a general surgery residency and finished with a pediatric surgery fellowship focusing on neonatal and fetal surgeries. If this is indeed the case, this creates a continuity-error with her being mentored by Richard, as stated in Grey's Anatomy, as OB/GYN residents do not rotate in other surgical departments; this would be plausible if Richard were somehow involved in Addison's OB/GYN residency.
 * Addison appeared in every single episode of Private Practice, except for Two Steps Back and The Hardest Part.
 * Although incorrect, Dr. Jake Reilly referred to Addison as a neonatologist in 5x07.
 * Addison is the first and last character to be seen on Private Practice. The last scene of the show is the group talking in the kitchen in the practice, and her face is the last one to be seen from inside the elevator before its doors close completely.
 * She's one of only eight people in the world who can perform OB/GYN, perinatology, and neonatal surgery on a world-class level.
 * Addison is considered "the Meryl Streep of Maternal-Fetal Medicine."
 * Before Izzie returned to Seattle Grace, she asked Addison how does the guilty feeling of being rich wear off, saying that the name Addison Forbes Montgomery-Shepherd sounds wealthy.

Notable Episodes
These episodes are Addison-centric or otherwise very informative about her life.
 * Apron Strings