Ellen Pompeo reveals she was detained at airport as bomb squad was called over a ‘fancy’ item in her bag
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ellen Pompeo got a lesson for life after she was detained by the Transportation Security Administration over an "expensive" and “fancy” snack that forced airport security to call in the bomb squad.
The 55-year-old ‘Grey's Anatomy’ star recently sat down for an interview with Travel + Leisure, where she discussed how she set off the alarms for a seemingly innocent snack — sunflower seeds.
Ellen Pompeo triggers airport security with a bag of sunflower seeds
The ‘Old School’ actress revealed that the debacle took place in March when she tried to board the flight with a bag full of sunflower seeds, according to Daily Mail.
"I had a bag of sunflower seeds, like organic sunflower seeds from Erewhon, so they were probably the most expensive sunflower seeds money can buy," Pompeo told the outlet.
“They literally held me for an hour, and they brought the bomb squad in. And I was like, what is happening? Is this a joke?” she remembered.
The award-winning actor-director offered to just discard the bag in the garbage so that security and boarding could proceed, but officials told her she had to stay in custody while the bomb squad investigated the bag.
"They said it was most likely a chemical on the packaging of these super expensive, fancy, organic, clean sunflower seeds. My protein on the plane!”
"I almost missed the flight. It was really like no one would ever believe this! I was texting my publicist saying, 'I might not get on this plane, and you're never gonna guess why,’” she continued.
Ellen Pompeo loves travelling despite the ordeal
Ellen Pompeo expressed that the experience hasn't deterred her from traveling, even though she already gets nervous when she has to fly.
She prefers to travel with her three daughters, Stella, 15, Sienna, 10, and Eli, 8, whom she shares with husband Chris Ivery.
"I love any kind of trip as long as my kids are with me. I get a little bit anxious when I travel for work without my kids, but when we're all together, we try to do it all and give them a good mix,” Pompeo explained. "I like to hold my kids' hands when I take off, which is probably a little selfish, and they're probably feeling my anxiety, which probably isn't the best thing to do.”
"It's a privilege to be able to travel with these kids and bring them places, so I try to just have a lot of gratitude for that and show them as much as I can,” she added.
