If anyone wants to try to convince me that Patrick Dempsey is a shady d-bag, you really won’t have to spend too much time on it. I’m pretty much already there. Dempsey, as we all know, was abruptly written off Grey’s Anatomy last month. There were rumors that Shonda Rhimes had a falling out with Dempsey, there were rumors that Dempsey was acting like a diva, and there were rumors that Dempsey was the one to want out.

Less than a month later, we still don’t really know what happened. I haven’t been following it too closely, but my general sense is that while Dempsey was “surprised” that McDreamy was killed off, he was also sort of grateful because he was ready to move on. Plus, it really didn’t seem like there was any love lost between Shonda and Patrick. But here’s a new wrinkle – In Touch Weekly claims that Shonda wrote him off after cast members learned that Dempsey had an “inappropriate relationship” with a young staffer on the set of GA.

Grey’s Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey told reporters on Jan. 23 he was “spread so thin” because the ABC show had “been taking up a lot of time.” But now In Touch has exclusively learned the secret behind both his split from his wife of 15 years, Jillian Fink, and his sudden on-screen departure as Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd.

“Patrick had an inappropriate relationship with a young woman who worked on the set,” an insider exclusively reveals in the new issue of In Touch.

“[His co-star] Ellen Pompeo found out and was angry because she’s close friends with Jillian, so of course, she told her,” the insider explains, adding that the situation even led to McDreamy’s death on the show in April after the actress spilled what she knew to the show’s creator and executive producer, Shonda Rhimes. “Shonda has no patience for that kind of behavior.”

Though their characters seemed love-struck with each other on-screen, the source says that “there was tension in Patrick and Ellen’s relationship for years before the final blowup,” adding that Ellen “was sick of his behavior on and off set.”

In particular, she hated his relationship with the female co-worker, who is in her early 20s. “Patrick found out that Ellen told his wife about the relationship and totally lost it. They had a huge blowup on the set in front of everyone,” the insider reveals to In Touch.

After that battle, Shonda got involved. “Shonda fired Patrick,” says the insider. “He didn’t want to leave.” Though Patrick had more than a year left on his contract, the insider adds, “Producers didn’t want him causing trouble.”

[From In Touch Weekly]

I believe some of this story. Not all. As I said, I’m already in the mood to believe that Dempsey is a shady d-bag. I have no problem believing he was screwing around on his wife with many different women over the years, and that some of those women might have even worked on Grey’s Anatomy. I will also be willing to believe that Dempsey and Pompeo had a less-than-friendly relationship off-camera. But I don’t really believe Ellen Pompeo would get all up in Patrick’s business, even if he was carrying on with a staffer. Plus, when did this affair take place? Patrick and his wife announced their split in January of this year, after what I assumed was a pretty open marriage.

Now, if you want to tell me that Patrick had an affair with someone on the set and maybe the woman was threatening a lawsuit or something? And maybe that’s why Shonda found out and got rid of him? Sure, I’d believe that.

Photos courtesy of WENN.