Grey’s Anatomy: Amelia Shepherd’s 10 Most Heartbreaking Moments

Amelia has been through so much so we’ve gathered all of her moments that made us ugly cry and compiled them into a list.

Amelia Shepherd has had quite a tragic past on both Grey’s Anatomy and its popular spin-off, Private Practice. She has struggled with addiction constantly but has also suffered several tremendous losses and yet she has still managed to retain her quirky personality and sense of humor throughout.

After appearing in 3 seasons of Private Practice, Amelia made her way on to the parent show, where she has remained to this day. Amelia grew close to both Meredith Grey and Maggie Pierce and views both of them as sisters. However, despite her cheerful attitude, when Amelia is alone and in pain, it’s absolutely devastating.

When She Finds Out Who Penny Is

This was one of the best episodes of the medical drama’s twelfth season. Derek Shepherd, Amelia’s brother and the love of Meredith’s life, had died in the previous season and so Season 12 saw both Amelia and Mer attempt to try and move on with their lives. Unfortunately, it was never going to be that easy.

Meredith hosted a dinner party at her house, to which everyone was invited, including Callie Torres. However, Callie brought her new girlfriend, Penny Blake, who treated Derek before he died. When Amelia found out, her devastation was uncomfortably clear; this was the woman who was partly responsible for Derek’s death.

When Derek Bullies Her

Sadly, viewers didn’t get to see Derek Shepherd at his best during his last season on the show. He and Meredith were arguing about Derek giving up a job with the President to stay in Seattle with his family. Derek was in a constant bad mood around the hospital and he took it out on others.

Amelia bore the brunt of his anger as she was his sister and had also taken over Derek’s job as Chief of Neurosurgery. Derek resented being demoted and so treated his sister like garbage; he suggested to Owen Hunt that Amelia might not be suited for her position because of her past drug addiction.

When She Broke Down Before Nicole Herman’s Surgery

One of Amelia’s main character traits was that she was impulsive and often neglected to look before she leaped. When Arizona Robbins secretly ordered in scans of Dr. Nicole Herman’s inoperable brain tumor, Amelia saw them and claimed that she could operate and get rid of the tumor.

This was never going to be an easy surgery and the pressure started to build as the operation drew closer. Viewers saw Amelia lose her confidence slightly as she began to wonder whether she had made a mistake. The worst came when Amelia visibly broke down and started crying right before the surgery.

When Her Family Refused To Come To Her Wedding

Amelia’s relationship with the rest of her family is rocky at best. She seemed to be closest to her brother, Derek, but as we’ve already pointed out, that bond was extremely flawed. Additionally, her mother and sisters didn’t really appear to understand her and so maintained an emotional distance.

This probably affected Amelia more than she let on. In Season 12, when she and Owen were about to get married, Amelia was devastated when she learned that none of her family would be coming to the wedding because they didn’t trust how quickly she and Owen got engaged and didn’t think it would last.

When She Discovered She Had A Brain Tumor

Obviously, this is pretty terrible news whoever you are. However, the ramifications of Amelia’s tumor affected her deeply. Essentially, Amelia had been living with this tumor for a good ten years, meaning that every decision she ever made could have been a result of the tumor, including Herman’s surgery.

Once this dawned on Amelia, she went into panic mode, requesting notes on all her patients and worrying that she might have killed them. Thankfully, Richard Webber was there to comfort and reassure her. This didn’t stop Amelia from telling everyone she loved them right before her big operation.

When Betty Didn’t Come Home

The Betty storyline was divisive amongst fans and critics alike, and it involved Owen and Amelia teaming up to take care of baby Leo and his teenage mother, Betty. Betty was a drug addict who had recently given birth and so Amelia took her in, knowing exactly how Betty felt and what she needed.

However, it wasn’t all plain sailing, as Betty continued to struggle with her addiction. After Amelia dropped her off at school one day, it transpired that Betty had gone missing. Owen, Amelia, and Teddy looked for her but had no luck. During Betty’s disappearance, Amelia was clearly traumatized and guilt-ridden.

When Her Family Bullies Her

Amelia’s relationship with Derek was a delicate one but her relationship with her sisters seemed to be non-existent. In Season 15, Amelia was invited to dinner by her older sister, Nancy. Unable to get out of it, Amelia brought along Link to act as her husband, Owen, to save any further embarrassment.

As this is Grey’s we’re talking about, things did not go well at all. Amelia’s other sister, Kathleen, also attended the dinner and together with Nancy, began to gang up on their little sister. Amelia took a lot of snide and nasty remarks but was clearly shaken and visibly upset. We can’t say we blame her.

When She Relapsed

During her entire time in the world of Grey’s Anatomy, Amelia has constantly battled with addiction. Unlike Webber, another addict, Amelia’s choice of drug was opioids. While she relapsed slightly in Grey’s, this was barely featured as a storyline. However, Amelia’s first relapse was horrific to watch.

In the fifth season of Private Practice, Amelia was clearly struggling with staying sober. Eventually, though, she succumbed to temptation and began using again. It was awful to watch Amelia’s physical and mental health decline, and the way she treated her friends and family was utterly heartbreaking.

When Derek Died

Amelia has seen so many personal tragedies in her lifetime that she has almost become immune to the emotional pain. Or so she’d like everyone to believe. When Derek died late on in Season 11, Owen had to wait to tell Amelia until she was out of surgery. When he broke the news, Amelia appeared unaffected.

However, this was simply Amelia’s way of coping. During Meredith’s ‘year out’, Amelia kept on cracking dark and inappropriate jokes about Derek’s demise. However, she later publicly broke down in front of Owen, who later tracked her down, only to find her about to take drugs to dull the emotional pain.

When Her Son Died

This was probably one of the most emotional and heartbreaking scenes that took place in the Grey’s Anatomy universe, on par with the death of April and Jackson’s baby boy. In Season 5 of Private Practice, Amelia discovered that she was pregnant with her late fiancé, and fellow drug addict, Ryan Kerrigan.

Amelia didn’t originally know how to feel about this but, unbelievably, there was still worse to come. Amelia’s baby was anencephalic (meaning he had no brain) and so he wouldn’t survive for long outside of the womb. Amelia still had to carry him to term however and later donated his organs.