Sad Details About Hallmark Star Sarah Drew's Personal Life
Sarah Drew is no stranger to playing characters that go through some tumultuous times, such as her role in Hallmark's "Guiding Emily," where she stars as a woman who's blinded in an accident. And we can't forget her long run on "Grey's Anatomy" as April Kepner, who suffered everything from getting fired to losing her newborn baby. While Drew's real life isn't nearly as dramatic on screen, she's had some tough moments to overcome.
When filming the traumatic scene from "Grey's Anatomy" where Kepner gave birth to her son knowing that he would soon die, Drew was actually eight months pregnant with her own baby. "I had to do an induction termination and hold the baby while it died in my arms and I had to shoot the delivery and death scene like when I was eight months pregnant," she shared on the "HypochondraActor" podcast. During the scene, Drew wasn't putting overt strain on her body, but she revealed that the motions caused her to go into labor a month early. The actor recalled feeling guilty for causing her daughter's premature labor and stated, "Oh, I did this to my baby. I chose my career over the safety and well-being of my baby." This wasn't the first time Drew had mom guilt, and her struggles with being a parent were just one of the many sad moments she experienced in her life.
Sarah Drew had a hard time adjusting to being a mom
After Sarah Drew welcomed her daughter Hannah, she settled in nicely as a second-time mom, but it wasn't so easy with her first son Micah Emmanuel. The "Branching Out" star revealed to Fit Pregnancy (via People), "I was mourning the end of a massive chapter in my life ... I knew I'd have to sacrifice a lot more than I was used to sacrificing, but I didn't know how it was going to look and I didn't know if I was going to be a good mom." Drew also had a hard time breastfeeding with Micah. After struggling for over two months, she took the advice of other moms and started pumping. "I honestly think the biggest trials end up teaching you how to let go. I was a control freak about sleep for the first six months of Micah's life," she stated.
Drew credited her faith and her father, who is a minister, for helping her overcome her fears of parenthood in an essay for Guideposts. She reached out to him over e-mail, and he responded with pages of Bible verses as well as advice on pinpointing exactly what she's afraid of. "Every morning I write in my journal all the good things God has given me. These days, our almost two-year-old son, Micah, is at the top of that list. He is a joy, as is parenthood. All those fears that overcame me? Dad was right. They never came to be," Drew wrote.
One harrowing Grey's Anatomy episode gave Sarah Drew nightmares
"Grey's Anatomy" was full of intense emotional scenes, but one particular episode put a toll on Sarah Drew's mental health. She shared in her tell-all book, "How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy," that the Season 6 finale caused her emotional duress for days after wrapping. In the episode, the husband of a wife who died in the hospital came back for revenge, resulting in a fatal shoot-out. Drew's character April Kepner found her friend dead on the floor, but when she came face-to-face with the shooter, she managed to run away from him. "I had nightmares and panic attacks while we were shooting that, even for several days after we finished," Drew shared (via Daily Mail). She continued, "It was very intense and scary and hard to go to those places, and then leave them at the door and then come home and be like, 'I'm fine, I'm fine. Nobody's trying to kill me, I didn't just watch my best friend die, I didn't just get covered in her blood."
Despite the emotional trauma, Drew told Family, Love, & Other Stuff in April 2014 that it was one of her favorite episodes. "I had a viewing party and people were gasping and shocked. It was like we were in a different genre, like a thriller," she revealed.
Sarah Drew mourned being let go from Grey's Anatomy
After nine seasons of playing April Kepner on "Grey's Anatomy," Sarah Drew received the shocking news that she was fired from the show. "I was let go during an episode where I was shadowing Kevin McKidd ... It was in the afternoon and I went back to my trailer and I did my crying and called my people," Drew revealed to The Hollywood Reporter about joining the list of dramatic "Grey's Anatomy" exits. "I was told that the show had too many characters and that they needed to downsize because they couldn't service all of the characters effectively. They didn't want any of us to be left in the background and not getting much of a story."
If it weren't for her firing, she would never have left "Grey's Anatomy," Drew revealed on the podcast "Whine Down with Jana Kramer." However, the silver lining was that she got to expand her horizons and start writing and producing. "I wouldn't be activating my brain and my heart on all these other layers and levels that has, like, fed my soul and brought me so much joy," she told Kramer. Kepner came back for the "Grey's Anatomy" Season 18 finale and got to reunite with her former co-star, Jesse Williams, who played her on-again-off-again love, giving "Japril" fans the closure that they needed.
Sarah Drew and her husband went through a dark time during their marriage
Sarah Drew had a reason for wanting to produce and star in the 2018 film "Indivisible," and it was because the story hit close to home. The movie centers around a military family who struggle with the after-effects of the Iraq War. Drew's character, Heather Turner, and her husband, Darren, have marital issues after he comes home from the Army, which the "Branching Out" star related to. "Several years into my marriage before we had kids, my husband and I went through the darkest time in our lives together and got very close to parting ways," she shared in a promo clip for "Indivisible." Drew and her husband Peter Lanfer started going to counseling to resolve their issues, and the pair only became stronger in the end.
Drew told CBN that her father gave her good advice and told her, "You know, just because something feels hopeless doesn't mean that it is hopeless." That was the nudge she needed to try therapy and uncover her emotional trauma. She added, "It was a powerful opportunity to grow not only together as a couple but also individually as humans to just have our hearts expand and to be able to say the things that were holding us back from being able to love one another."
Filming Stolen by Their Father was emotionally taxing for Sarah Drew
"Stolen by Their Father" was another role that Sarah Drew was able to connect to, but this time it was as a mother of two. The 2022 Lifetime film is based on a true story about a woman named Lizbeth Meredith whose ex-husband kidnapped their two daughters and fled to Greece. Meredith does everything she can to track him down and bring the girls back, which proves difficult as she deals with the complicated legal system. "It's a very intense story. It was an incredible experience to shoot it. But I was also ready to not be in the land of the trauma I was in while playing that role. So I was ready when it ended to get back to my kids and feel all at peace again," she told Smashing Interviews Magazine.
The first half of the film was easier on Drew, as she was able to have her own children with her in Greece, per ET. However, she revealed, "But going to Canada to finish it, being away from my kids, I gotta tell you, by the time we were on the final scene of the final day, I was like, 'Someone put me on a plane! I have to hug my children." While Drew had an emotional journey playing Meredith, she was grateful to be able to share her story.