Shonda Rhimes has made many strides in the entertainment industry as a screenwriter, showrunner, and producer. Under her production company Shondaland, she produced numerous television shows that have reached incredible success such as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and the latest phenomenon Bridgerton.
And while the term “girlboss” has been highly popularized by many women who are at the head of their businesses (Nasty Gal CEO Sophia Amoruso is a prime example after naming her book and Netflix show Girlboss) and may even be an appropriate title for the executive producer, Shonda calls “bulls–t.”
The beloved 51-year-old was recently named “TV’s Greatest” by Time magazine and in the cover story, she dished on being a mother and how women in power are viewed. "I think the girlboss archetype is bulls–t that men have created to find another way to make women sound bad," she said.
She believes that it is just "a nice catchphrase to grab a bunch of women into one group and say, ‘This is what women are doing right now.’" She added, "Nobody ever says, 'This is what men are doing right now.'"
As a television mogul, Shonda has managed to crank out many productions and keep up with her longest-running show Grey’s Anatomy, which has been on for 17 years.
During that time, she has also become a mother to three daughters, which she admitted made her less present in her career. But according to her, that’s not a bad thing, it’s just her life now.
“I don’t think anybody who has kids is fully present at work,” she stated. “The idea of pretending that we have no other life is some sort of fantasy out of the 1950s, where the little lady stayed at home. I don’t have a little lady at home. So if I am excelling at one thing, something else is falling off. And that is completely OK.”
Shonda has two adopted daughters, Harper whom she adopted in 2002, and Emerson in 2012, and in 2013 she welcomed another girl who she named Beckett. However, she had Beckett via surrogate.
Currently, the super-producer is enjoying her new deal with Netflix. In 2017, Shonda reportedly signed a four-year $100 million deal with the streaming giant, where Bridgerton became a success.
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