Grey’s Anatomy’s Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) has experienced a lot in the 20 seasons that the show has been on air. Her journey started as a humble surgical intern who only wanted to follow in the footsteps of her mother, Ellis Grey (Kate Burton). She was able to achieve her goals and more thanks to the loyal band of friends and family around her. In addition, Meredith Grey’s boyfriends were also a key fixture of the show, with viewers waiting to see which one she’d end up with.
Starting the show with a love affair with soulmate Derek (Patrick Dempsey), Meredith learns the hard way that a happily ever after might not be what she expected. From awkward one-night stands to grand declarations of romance, Meredith is slowly but surely on the path to finding her Mr. Right.
11. Steve Murphy (Sunkrish Bala)
Derek and Meredith found it hard to establish their relationship at the beginning due to Derek’s marriage to Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) — so much so that they even broke up. In one of the best seasons of Grey’s Anatomy, Meredith tries to get over Derek by meeting with and having a one-night stand with Steve (Sunkrish Bala). However, it’s a near-nightmare scenario when Steve shows up at the hospital the next day with priapism, a condition where the male member remains stiff without stimulation.
Things gradually get more and more humiliating for Meredith as Derek is called in to perform surgery on Steve. In order to cure Steve’s priapism, Derek has to remove a tumor from Steve’s spine. This encounter is nothing less than a disaster, and thankfully, Steve is never seen nor mentioned again.
10. George O’Malley (T.R. Knight)
From the pilot, George (TR Knight) is deeply infatuated with Meredith. He has the cliché schoolboy crush on his new friend, taking pride whenever Derek lets her down and tries to offer a comforting shoulder with the hope she will see that he is everything she deserves and more.
When Meredith is heartbroken over Derek, she turns to George for a drunken night of awkward, regrettable passion — or lack thereof. It backfires miserably on George and makes for an extremely uncomfortable encounter after Meredith starts sobbing uncontrollably. Despite George growing a little hostile towards her in the aftermath, they eventually make up and stick to being what they know best: friends. Sadly, George never found the love of his life, with him exiting the show in Season 5.
9. John (Josh Radnor)
How I Met Your Mother’s unlucky-in-love star, Josh Radnor, has a minor guest-starring role in Season 15 as Meredith Grey’s love interest. He and Meredith have a run-in with each other on a blind date – set up for other people. They hit it off with Meredith rescheduling her entire day to spend more time with John after sensing something may be there.
That decision alone is a huge deal for her considering how in demand she is at the hospital and her recent misfortune with love. Blissful ignorance is soon shattered though when John reveals he has no interest in children and unintentionally insults Meredith. John is one match Meredith finds herself desperate to diffuse, and thankfully, she quickly moves on to find someone better.
8. William Thorpe (Scott Elrod)
Fans may recall William (Scott Elrod) as Meredith’s rebound of sorts in Season 12. He senses there could be something worth pursuing, and they go on a few dates. They first met when they were both assigned to Brian Carson (Brett Zimmerman), who was ridden with osteosarcoma. The two easily hit it off, especially since William’s charm is hard to resist.
They went on several dates, with them even sleeping together. However, Meredith had a panic attack the morning after and screamed at William to leave since she didn’t think that she was ready to pursue love. The thing about William is that he’s not an awful person. He is patient with Meredith, giving her space when she needs it, but he is the classic case of right person, wrong time. Maybe in another life, these two could have worked something out.
7. Atticus Lincoln (Chris Carmack)
Link (Chris Carmack) is unwittingly thrust into yet another of Meredith’s love triangles, with the new ortho ‘god’ and Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) battling for her affection. Link proves to be a hit with everyone in the family, including the kids, so much so that Meredith even chooses to start a relationship with him.
With DeLuca’s Italian charm in his way, the spark between Link and Meredith fizzles out before it can even ignite. While Link is a sweetheart, it’s hard to imagine things working out with Meredith. The chemistry just isn’t there, but he does find his own love story in Grey’s Anatomy shortly after, with him starting a family with Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone).
6. Nick Marsh (Scott Speedman)
One of Meredith’s objects of affection is Scott Speedman’s renowned charismatic transplant surgeon, Nick Marsh. First appearing in season 14 as a patient, it looked like sparks were going to fly with Meredith, but he is very quickly phased out as soon as he’s introduced.
Nick returns in season 18 and finds that the chemistry between him and Meredith is still there. Now, the pair have struck up a long-distance relationship which seems to be going well. A question on many fans’ minds is whether they can withstand the test of time, which they did, as it was revealed that Nick followed Meredith to Boston, which sadly meant that Speedman had also exited the show.
5. Nathan Riggs (Martin Henderson)
Riggs (Martin Henderson) comes onto the series with a lot of baggage — nearly enough to rival Meredith’s if anyone’s counting. Like the general surgeon, Riggs lost his soulmate and the love of his life, Megan (Abigail Spencer), when she went missing while deployed.
After Derek’s death, Meredith opts to avoid romance but falls into an entanglement of complications with Riggs. The two grow closer and closer as Meredith becomes more comfortable in opening herself up to love again. In fact, Meredith makes a symbolic move to tuck away the Post-it that has her and Derek’s vows in order to pursue a relationship with Riggs. She and Riggs were looking promising for a hot second until Megan returned.
4. Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood)
Following the departure of Justin Chambers’ fan-favorite Alex Karev, the pediatrics ward was in need of a new surgeon. Meredith’s best friend and proclaimed ‘person’ Cristina (Sandra Oh) sends a two-in-one — experienced doctor for Grey Sloan and potential love interest for Meredith — package with Irishman, Hayes (Richard Flood).
Hayes shares a lot in common with Meredith. Both are widowed, both are single parents, and both are doctors. The pair have a couple of interactions together, but nothing overly flirtatious. Technically, nothing ever does happen between them; however, his entrance is implicated alongside Meredith’s love life. This could have been the show’s next best power couple if they had been able to settle down, but they are plagued by COVID-19 comas and a shock departure when Hayes resigns and exits the series.
3. Finn Dandridge (Chris O’Donnell)
Finn (Chris O’Donnell) is the first semi-serious relationship Meredith embarks on after Addison arrives and drops a major bombshell, revealing herself as Derek’s estranged wife. Derek breaks things off with the leading lady to fix his marriage while Meredith glams it up with the single life.
Finn is one role where Chris O’Donnell plays a sweet guy (apart from Robin in the 90’s movie Batman and Robin). He dotes on Meredith, despite knowing that her heart ultimately lies with Derek. Of all of her love interests, Finn is maybe one of the few men who is worthy of more than she could give. In hindsight, he never really stands a chance against Derek, but he doesn’t deserve to be cheated on – especially at a prom he had taken Meredith to.
2. Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti)
The romantic pairing of Meredith and DeLuca has been met with a mixed reception from fans. After sharing a brief smooch – drunkenly on DeLuca’s part – the Italian stud falls head over heels for his attending and spends the first half of Season 15 making grand, swoon-worthy gestures towards her.
DeLuca is nothing but considerate, respectful, and selfless around Meredith. He always puts her and her kids first. The resident is even willing to go to prison to protect her, and they’d only been dating for a short while at that point. Despite breaking up, Meredith and DeLuca are still there for one another and clearly share a lot of love. Sadly, their romance is not meant to be when DeLuca is fatally stabbed. However, they do share one last moment on the purgatory beach where they find closure for their short-lived relationship.
1. Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey)
While this dynamic duo has their ups and downs with each other, Derek and Meredith have been the “it” couple of Grey Sloan for a whole decade. From the moment they met, there was an electrifying spark that they both couldn’t deny. Sure, their relationship could be pretty unhealthy at times, but they stood by one another through it all.
Derek is Meredith’s greatest love and there’s no question about it. Their romance is a whirlwind from the very first episode. They’ve been on quite the journey. Tackling ex-wives, various love triangles, and gut-wrenching tragedies, it seems nothing could ever come between them – until Derek’s devastating death. Yet, years down the line, Meredith still considers him her McDreamy.
Ironically…
