Shonda Rhimes on Meeting Taylor Swift in Her ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Office

Shonda Rhimes took a moment to reflect on meeting Taylor Swift for the first time in her Grey’s Anatomy office before her song, “White Horse,” was used at the beginning of season five of the hit ABC series.

In a conversation with People for its special Grey’s issue, the showrunner recalled when the Grammy-winning artist came by her office and performed her popular song, “Love Story,” in 2008.

“I remember she was an interesting artist,” Rhimes told the publication. “It’s so funny because, back then, she showed up in my office with bare feet. She went off and played ‘Love Story’ and was like, ‘I really love your show.’ I had no idea who she was. I was like, ‘This kid’s adorable. Like, I love this song. The song was really good.’”

Grey’s executive producer Betsy Beers also chimed in on how a lot of the time on the long-running series, they get to meet people before they have their big break and are just starting their careers.

“I mean, Taylor Swift came into my office with a guitar,” she remembered, “one of the loveliest people I’d ever met and started playing this song. And Taylor Swift has done incredibly well.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, the Bridgerton creator went on to praise the cultural impact Swift has had since then, producing so much music and serving as “kind of the voice of what that generation is in people’s heads.”

“You know what I mean? How they’re perpetually like the same emotional age somehow,” Rhimes continued. “And in a good way. So I thought, yeah, her songs do become woven in because honestly, that’s what everybody’s listening to, but also they feel good and they work.”

Over the years, Swift has become known for being a fan of Grey’s. She loved the show so much that, in 2015, she named one of her cats after Ellen Pompeo’s title character, Meredith Grey. That same year, the actress starred in Swift’s “Bad Blood” music video. At the time, “The Tortured Poets Department” singer-songwriter told Us Weekly she named the cat after Meredith because she’s gray.