Shonda Rhimes: I ‘struggle to understand what America is under Trump’

Bridgerton, Grey’s Anatomy and Queen Charlotte creator Shonda Rhimes has admitted Donald Trump’s presidency has “fundamentally changed” her understanding of her country and said “self-censorship” is taking place in the US.

Shondaland founder Rhimes was speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival in the UK, where she was named the inaugural recipient of the Edinburgh Fellowship, and admitted she is “struggling to understand what America is under Trump”.

“I used to pride myself on the fact that if I loved something then the audience would as well, I felt I normally had my finger on the pulse of what was going on.

“That for me really changed fundamentally with the election, just because I felt like I don’t know what’s going any on more, do I know what’s going on?” she said. “I’m still trying to figure it out.”

During the hour-long session, Rhimes – whose company has a rich Netflix deal – spoke broadly about the state of the industry, her creative process and how she got started in the business.

The creative has been a vocal critic of Trump and said she remained “angry” but tries to silo her own feelings and the operations of Shondaland.

“I try to keep [Shonda and Shondaland] separate [politically]. My job may be to march and be angry, but my job at Shondaland is to entertain,” she explained. “But I won’t ever stop being politically active, I like being engaged.”

Rhimes admitted to having “very strong feelings” regarding Trump’s immigration policies but added she also has “strong feelings about what is effective now, and I think there are different ways to be effective in this moment of time because the old methods obviously did not work”.

The creative veteran also responded to CBS’s recent deal with Trump’s administration to settle a lawsuit from the US president around coverage he received during November’s election, admitting that a “censorship” was at play.

“I can’t know what everybody else’s motives [at CBS] were but it feels that there is self-censoring going on,” she said, before adding that she felt “lucky” to be at Netflix.

“I would not change anything… I feel lucky in making the shows that I think matter to me and to my company, we can do the storytelling that I want to. I feel very fortunate that I can do that, it might not last forever but that’s what is here now - and I am taking advantage of that.”

Interviewer Mishal Husain also pushed Rhimes on her exit as treasurer from the John F Kennedy Performing Arts Center earlier this year, asking if it could be labelled as a “retreat”.

“I definitely don’t think it was a retreat, no. I was treasurer of the Kennedy Center, so my job was to ask fiduciary questions,” she said, adding she felt compelled to leave when the organisation’s board changed following Trump’s presidential win.

“I was literally the only surviving member of the [previous] board and therefore in my mind it wasn’t a board anymore and certainly not one with the same mission. If the entire mission of the board has changed then you’re no longer useful to that organisation.”

She also added that her decision to leave X, formerly Twitter, was simple.

“I left because Elon Musk took over Twitter. I don’t know if I feel vindicated because of what happened – I walked away and I am not paying attention anymore. I’m on Instagram and Threads and it is a different type of interaction. The interaction that was there on Twitter isn’t there anymore. And that’s fine.”

Creative process & Bridgerton

The far-reaching discussion also saw Rhimes discuss the future of Bridgerton – which will run to eight seasons, as per the novels – and how she landed on the show.

“I was sick in a hotel room, and someone had left behind the first Bridgerton book and I read it. I had a lot of disdain for romance novels thinking they were beneath me, but it was so good I got out of bed, feeling sick, and went to buy the rest from the bookstore.

“I spoke to [producing partner] Betsy Beers and said I had the next show idea, and she thought I was losing my mind.”

Rhimes described Bridgerton as “global lifestyle brand with a zillion things attached to it”, pointing to the millions of dollars made from merchandising, but added its success on that front had not surprised her.

“I’d had the experience of working on Grey’s… so I understood the power. When we did Scandal, I remember Olivia Pope would drink out of a wine glass and those glasses would sell out [US homeware store] Crate & Barrel.”

Rhimes said there was the “possibility of prequels” to Bridgerton because author Julia Quinn had written “offshoots” but said that she did not read reviews.

“I learned a long time not to read the things written about you, because if you read the good things you need to believe the bad things too. How people react… is none of my business.”

She also touched on her Connecticut home as being the best place for her to work, because of its location in between LA and London, and said she needs to dedicate blocks of time to creative work and meetings.

She also added “succession planning” had been discussed, revealing little more about her plans for the future, and said handing shows such as Grey’s to other creatives had been a tough but necessary process.

“Handing off Grey’s was really important to me, so I put in certain rules. They pitch every season and major character arcs, that happens several times through the season, and I also oversee casting major actors, but I don’t oversee editing or writers anymore.”

Rhimes admitted she does not watch the show until it airs and does not watch every episode

“I have had to step back a bit. You have to understand it is my first show, it was my baby, and to see what happens to those characters when it might not have been what I imagined is hard.

“You have to allow the people making that show to be as creative as they can be.”