Ellen Pompeo said she's 'terrified' to watch 'Grey's Anatomy' with her daughter because Izzie 'had oral sex with a ghost'

• Ellen Pompeo gave more details about why she won't let her daughter watch "Grey's Anatomy" yet.
• "It was [a] pretty racy network show for the time," she told Malcolm Gladwell.

"Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo said on her podcast Wednesday that her hit ABC series has too much sexual content for her daughter, Stella Ivery, to watch — even though the 12-year-old's friends do.

The actress was talking about the show's risqué nature on her "Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo" podcast while speaking with bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell to discuss his latest book "Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon."

"Even though network TV, there was a lot of stuff happening," she said. "It was [a] pretty racy network show for the time."

Pompeo said she will eventually sit with her daughter and watch the long-running medical drama, but she is "terrified" for that day to come.

Gladwell asked Pompeo if she thinks she might be mis-remembering how much explicit content was a part of the storylines, saying, "You could have distorted it in your mind."

Pompeo assured Gladwell she remembered some of the show's storylines very clearly.

"Listen, there's one scene, for sure, where a character — not me — had sex with a ghost," she said. "Had oral sex with a ghost."

"Grey's Anatomy" fans know that Pompeo is referring to the season five storyline that involved attending surgical oncologist Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) hallucinating her former fiancé Denny, and having sex with him in her mind. The visions were a symptom of a cancerous tumor.

"I'm pretty sure I just don't feel like having that conversation with my 12-year-old, you know?" Pompeo said with a laugh.

Pompeo said her daughter is content to wait for her permission to enter the halls of the fictional Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital, where "Grey's" is based, because she just wants to watch the show with Pompeo.

New episodes of "Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo" are available to stream on Wednesdays.