'Grey's Anatomy' star Eric Dane shares surprising reason he was 'let go' from hit series amid addiction battle

Eric Dane is spilling the real reason why he was "let go" from "Grey's Anatomy" after starring on the show as Dr. Mark Sloan for several years.

"So I had my wits about me and I sort of knew what reality was and what reality wasn't," he shared on the "Armchair Expert" podcast with actor Dax Shepard. "And I was able to differentiate between the two. And I was able to sort of conceptualize what that was, keep it in its place, enjoy it, dip in every now and again and come back." Caroline Thayer is an entertainment writer for Fox News Digital. Follow Caroline Thayer on Twitter at @carolinejthayer. Story tips can be sent to caroline.thayer@fox.com.

"I think the net-net is I didn't really handle it very well," the actor, now 51, shared. "Because if you take the whole eight years on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,' I was f---ed up longer than I was sober. And that's when things started going sideways for me."