T.R. Knight Proves He’s Still Close With Former ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Co-Stars After Posting Sweet Birthday Message for Chandra Wilson

It’s so good to see that the doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial hospital are friends in real life, too! Especially when they’re no longer Grey’s Anatomy co-stars today.

Over the weekend, T.R. Knight — who portrayed Dr. George O’Malley on the hit medical drama from 2005 until 2009 — took to Instagram to give Chandra Wilson a sweet birthday shout-out. Watch the video below to see what he had to say about Dr. Miranda Bailey!

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While Chandra is still on the show today (and has been since the start of the series back in 2005), George previously left the ABC hit after Season 5. “There just comes a time when it’s so clear that moving on is the best decision,” the 44-year-old actor told Entertainment Weekly. “My five-year experience proved to me that I could not trust any answer that was given [about George]. And with respect, I’m going to leave it at that.”

He allegedly decided to leave the show after his other former co-star Isaiah Washington — who played Dr. Preston Burke for the first few seasons of Grey’s — was fired for calling T.R. a “fa**ot” on set. Shortly after that moment, George wanted to “come out,” but claimed the show’s creator Shonda Rhimes wasn’t totally on board. “I think she was concerned about having my statement come out so close to the [initial] event,” he said.

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The original cast of Grey’s Anatomy.

Shonda refuted, “I said, ‘If you want to come out, that’s awesome. We’ll totally support that.’ And then he went away, thought about it, and came back and said, ‘I’m going to make this statement.'” She added, “I remember saying to [fellow executive producer] Betsy Beers, ‘This is our proudest day here. T.R. got to come out, and I got to say to him that it wouldn’t affect his character’ — because he was concerned that he was going to come out and George would suddenly be gay. I was like, ‘We are not going to do that.’ The idea that a gay actor can’t play a straight man is insulting.” Who knows, maybe Dr. George O’Malley will return to the show someday!

Click through the gallery below to see which stars we’d love to come back to Grey’s Anatomy for Season 14!