If you’ve been a fan of Shondaland shows like Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Private Practice, and How to Get Away With Murder, you might have started to hear a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes.
Even before the advent of social media, we could tell that there was nearly as much drama going on behind the scenes of Seattle Grace as there was when the cameras were rolling.
Now that we can follow all of our favorite actors and actresses on platforms like Instagram and Twitter, we can look behind the curtain more often.
In some cases, it shows us that the cast members who are tight on screen hang out a ton when the cameras aren’t rolling, too. The Scandal cast is especially close.
They support each other whenever someone takes on a new project, and share their silly antics from the set with fans. Cast members on other shows also seem to have made great friends while on the job.
For other people, though… “frenemies” is sometimes a kind term. Turns out when you work with someone you really don’t like for awhile, that tends to make its way to the tabloids eventually.
So who gets along well, and who might have to learn how to get away with murder? Read on to find out the 10 Shondaland Stars Who Are Best Friends In Real Life (And 5 Who Are Frenemies).
Best Friends: Aja Naomi King and Viola Davis
It’s always fantastic seeing two women supporting each other, especially when so many people want to make them be competitive or catty.
Viola Davis and Aja Naomi King are a great example of supporting and uplifting your fellow women.
The How to Get Away With Murder castmates have nothing but praise to share about one another whenever the topic comes up in interviews.
When Davis introduced King at the 2017 Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards, she actually teared up as she said she couldn’t wait to see what her younger co-star becomes.
Besides catching the pair on your television screens Thursday nights, you can also see the super cute selfies that King posts of the two of them on her Instagram page. King seems to get along well with all of her castmates, but this relationship is particularly special.
Best Friends: Sandra Oh and Kevin McKidd
Sandra Oh leaving Grey’s Anatomy might have broken your heart, especially if you were a hardcore Christina/Owen shipper.
However, don’t worry – Oh might not be coming back to the show, but she and on-screen hubby Kevin McKidd are pretty tight in real life.
Oh has continued to tweet pictures of the two of them together years after she left the show, even joking about his new on-screen marriage and pretending to be jealous of the new wife.
When interviewed last year for Grey’s three hundredth episode, McKidd said that he and Oh still talk all the time.
He apparently even tried to convince her to come back to the show after she faked being jealous of his new TV wife. If he succeeds, Grey’s Anatomy fans everywhere might owe a debt of thanks to Dr. Owen.
Frenemies: Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl
Grey’s Anatomy catapulted the careers of both Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl.
While Pompeo has obviously stayed on the show as the title character (though poor Meredith Grey has been through the ringer), Heigl left in 2010 in pursuit of a career on the big screen instead.
For awhile, she was successful – it was hard to find a chick flick without her in it – but rumor has it that she was so difficult to work with that she was quickly blacklisted.
She burned her bridges with her Grey’s family too.
When Pompeo finally decided to speak about it in 2013, she criticized the way that Heigl decided to leave and threw some subtle shade at her current lack of a movie career. Ouch.
Best Friends: Matt McGorry and Alfred Enoch
On How to Get Away With Murder, McGorry’s frat boy-esque Asher often clashed with Alfred Enoch’s Wes. (Before Wes kicked the bucket, of course. RIP.)
Off-screen, though, the two stars are tight. Even if Enoch did accidentally interrupt McGorry’s live-tweeting one too many times.
Enoch doesn’t have social media, but fans can still tell that there’s a pretty strong bromance between the two actors. McGorry has posted screencaps of FaceTiming with Enoch from across the pond, and their hilarious chemistry is obvious in every interview they’ve appeared in together.
Aja Naomi King is also close with the two of them, especially Enoch. There were rumors that the two were dating for awhile, but fans will have to be disappointed on that one – they’re just really great friends.
Best Friends: Liza Weil and Charlie Weber
Three of the Annalise Keating Murder Gang actors might be tight, but these two How To Get Away With Murder actors have all of them beat. Liza Weil, who plays Bonnie, and Charlie Weber, who portrays Frank, are a couple in real life.
Charlie Weber shared the story of how they became an item on a podcast in 2017.
They became friends while filming the show, but as time went on, they realized how just how well they got along when they were able to talk one-on-one.
The two are a pretty private couple – news leaked that they were dating before they decided to share it publicly – and they seem to be more than happy to keep it that way.
Both of them were previously married, so here’s hoping they find happiness.
Frenemies: Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs
Weil and Weber seem happy, but things don’t always work out for couples who work together on Shondaland shows. Just look at Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs.
You might be confused as to why Broadway star Idina Menzel is on this list. Back in 2009, she actually guest starred on multiple episodes of Private Practice.
Taye Diggs, her husband at the time, was a regular on the show. It wasn’t the first time they’ve worked together as actors – they met while working together on Rent – but their history of working together only made their eventual split harder.
Menzel and Diggs divorced back in 2013, and theater fans almost seemed more upset than they did.
Best Friends: Scott Foley and Joshua Malina
Even great friends can sometimes get sick of one another, especially if they see each other all the time. It would be understandable if after spending all day on set with a friend, you want to spend some time alone. Or with pretty much anyone else.
For Scandal co-stars Scott Foley (Jake Ballard) and Joshua Malina (David Rosen), though, they find ways to keep working together.
For extra hilarity and behind-the-scenes revelations, just read the Scandal blog that they wrote together for Entertainment Weekly.
They switch back and forth between ribbing each other, praising their performances, and actually talking about the show.
Offline, you can often find them joking about their fan-favorite bromance. (As long as Malina isn’t in the doghouse for another cast prank.)
Best Friends: Aja Naomi King and Karla Souza
You know that you’ve made it as a BFF pair when there’s a whole Buzzfeed article just dedicated to your cute selfies together.
HTGAWM co-stars King and Souza earned that distinction pretty quickly. (They’ve since upgraded from grainy set selfies to even more beautiful HQ photos.)
Their characters may have hated each other at the start of the show, but in real life, the two actresses are good friends.
When they’re not on set filming another episode of the hit show, they’re busy being best friend goals and being supportive of each other through whatever curveballs are thrown at them.
They also occasionally include the other cast members in their consistent admiration of each other, of course.
Frenemies: Kate Walsh and the cast of Grey’s
You have to really mess up to get the entire cast of a show mad at you. Or you can just get something that they all want and don’t think that you deserve.
When the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Private Practice was first announced, the cast of Grey’s Anatomy turned pretty frosty towards Kate Walsh, who was going to be the star of the new show.
Being the star of a show is obviously a huge boost for an acting career, and many of the other actors thought that their performances and storylines were strong enough to be able to lead a show.
It seems like they really should have taken that up with Shonda Rhimes herself, but jealousy got in the way of reason for a bit.
Luckily, the hurt feelings didn’t last, and Walsh was able to mend her relationships with her fellow cast members.
Best Friends: Bellamy Young and Cornelius Smith Jr.
On the set of Scandal, Bellamy Young (Mellie Grant) and Cornelius Smith Jr. (Marcus Walker) have played secret lovers, hiding the truth from both the public and Olivia Pope.
Their relationship isn’t quite so dramatic in real life, but they are definitely good friends.
The Scandal cast is well-known for getting along super well, and the two of them are no exception.
They goof around together on set when the cameras aren’t rolling, leading to excellent moments like them filming themselves having a riff-off or messing around on Instagram live.
The show might be coming to an end, but we can only hope that the two of them keep in touch – and keep gifting us with hilarious videos.
Best Friends: Jerrika Hinton and Camilla Luddington
On Grey’s Anatomy, Stephanie Edwards and Jo Wilson work their way up the ladder from interns to residents.
Jerrika Hinton and Camilla Luddington might not be doctors, but they do have at least one thing in common with their characters.
Like some of the other friends on this list, these two don’t just play friends on the show – they’re also good friends in real life.
In a 2015 interview with Grey’s Anatomy cast members, the actors and actresses were asked who their first scene was with and what their first impression was.
While some people were nervous or unsure of their new co-star, Hinton said she was instantly at ease. Her first impression of Luddington was that they were “going to get along great” – and it seems like they have.
All together now – awwww.
Frenemies: Shonda Rhimes and Katherine Heigl
Once upon a time, Katherine Heigl was happily bringing home a nice Grey’s Anatomy paycheck, causing zero ripples with the cast or very important showrunner.
Now, however, she has to deal with the fact that she’s the subject of headlines that claim Shonda Rhimes hates her guts. Yikes.
To be fair, when you very publicly remove your name from consideration at the Emmys because you don’t think the material you were given was good enough to deserve consideration, you’re going to make a lot of people angry.
That was just one of the ways Heigl slighted the cast and crew of Grey’s on her way out the door.
Now, Rhimes says she has a very strict ‘no assholes’ policy – and Heigl’s name is at the top of her blacklist.
Best Friends: Katie Lowes and Bellamy Young
We’ve been able to watch the characters of Katie Lowes and Bellamy Young rise up the political ladder on screen on Scandal.
Quinn Perkins, played by Lowes, has stepped into Olivia’s stylish pumps and is running Quinn Perkins and Associates. Mellie Grant is President, with Olivia as her HBIC (okay, Chief of Staff).
The actresses’ off-camera antics might be just as entertaining. While the characters on Scandal never seem to get to have much fun before the latest kidnapping/demise/crisis takes over, you can catch Bellamy Young and Katie Lowes having a blast together singing at places like IAMA Cabaret on their down time.
It’s one thing to like the people you work with, it’s another thing entirely to make a point to sing with them when you’re off the clock.
Best Friends: Kate Walsh and Sara Ramirez
When Kate Walsh got her own show, there was at least one Grey’s Anatomy cast member who wasn’t giving her the cold shoulder – friend Sara Ramirez, who played Dr. Callie Torres until the end of the twelfth season.
Ramirez went on the record to say how much she loved Walsh and would miss her as she started her new journey as the star of a new television show.
Before you think that she was just being nice for the reporters, both of them have clearly kept the relationship alive over the years.
They attend each other’s birthday parties, bachelorette parties and weddings, go dancing, and make sure to be super supportive of each other as they continue with their stellar careers.
Frenemies: Patrick Dempsey and Isaiah Washington
We’ve all been irritated when a coworker isn’t pulling their weight at work. It can be annoying when you’re consistently early or on time and someone else rolls in twenty minutes late every morning. We’re willing to bet, though, that most of us don’t start a brawl over it.
“Most of us” does not include Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey.
The two Grey’s stars got into a violent fight on set back in 2007, over what was originally reported as a fight over “cast members arriving late to work.” (Yeah, okay.)
As more details came out, the public found out that during the heated argument and fist fight, Washington used a homophobic slur when describing fellow cast member T.R. Knight.
Washington was fired not long after, but bad blood remains between him and Dempsey.
After your fist collides with someone’s face, that’s pretty much bound to happen.
Who did we miss? Who are your favorite BFFs or frenemies in Shondaland shows? Let us know in the comments!
