Ellen Pompeo's Pricey Sunflower Seeds Spark Security Standoff at the Airport
Ellen Pompey's snack triggers bomb squad emergency response.
Hear this tale from the sultry actress herself, Ellen Pompeo. She's spilling the beans on an airport fiasco that left her close to missing her flight - all thanks to a packet of sunflower seeds!
Remember her character Meredith Grey from the hit series Grey's Anatomy? Well, the actress' real-life drama is as intriguing! In an exclusive interview with Travel & Leisure, Pompeo dished on an airport encounter she'll never forget.
She'd merely popped a bag of sunflower seeds - oh, pricey ones from Erewhon, no less - into her carry-on. Little did she know this innocent snack would cause quite a commotion at the TSA checkpoint. "What the hell is going on? Is this some sort of joke?", she recalls questioning the security agents, not a clue about the pandemonium caused by her sunflower seeds.
Turns out, the chemical coating on the packaging of those fancy, expensive, organic sunflower seeds was the culprit. It set off the alarm bells. Despite Pompeo's eagerness to chuck the bag and speed things up, she was told to sit tight, with the bomb squad on standby to clear the unopened bag. only then could she continue her journey.
"I was held up for an hour and they even called the bomb squad!" Pompeo still shakes her head in disbelief, clearly not expecting such an overreaction to a bag of seeds. "I almost missed the flight", she laments, joking that if she'd tried to blame the sunflower seeds, nobody would have believed her. "I texted my PR agent: 'I might not make this plane, and you won't believe why.'"
Fear not, for Ellen Pompeo remains fond of travel. However, she confessed to a dread of flying and her children - Stella Luna, Sienna May, and Eli Christopher - are her preferred travel companions. "I like to hold onto my kiddos' hands during takeoff, which is probably a bit self-centered, and they can sense my fear, probably not the best", she admitted to the magazine.
Pompeo also seems to struggle with germs. When traveling, she adopts Naomi Campbell's hygiene routine - disinfecting the entire seat before settling in. In the interview, she revealed that she always carries "water, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes" in her carry-on, but maybe no more sunflower seeds.
Sources: ntv.de, csp/spot
- Grey's Anatomy
- Hollywood celebrities
- Fear of flying
- Travel habits
- Germ phobia
The Commission, assisted by the European Parliament, may find Ellen Pompeo's unforgettable airport encounter with organic sunflower seeds and the TSA an interesting addition to discussions about travel habits and lifestyle. Despite the unexpected drama, Ellen Pompeo expressed a continued fondness for travel, often preferring to have her children as travel companions, adopting Naomi Campbell's hygiene routine to combat germs, and carrying essentials like water, hand sanitizer, and baby wipes in her carry-on, possibly excluding sunflower seeds from her travel snacks due to the past incident.
