Grey’s Anatomy fans will remember April 23, 2015, as a day their lives changed forever. Though it wasn’t apocalyptic, many were devastated by the sudden death of Dr. McDreamy, played by Hollywood cutie Patrick Dempsey.

In the 1987 romantic comedy, Can’t Buy Me Love, Dempsey played the nerdy teenager Ronald Miller, who had to pay for pretending a girlfriend. Years later, the star re-emerged in the medical drama, Grey’s Anatomy as the dreamy doctor whose death caused a meltdown with his die-hard followers.

Though Dempsey hinted in 2013 that he might be leaving the show, Entertainment Weekly reported in 2014 that he and co-star Ellen Pompeo, who plays Meredith, signed a new two-year contract, which gave the good doctor at least until 2016.

Little was known about Dempsey’s departure from the hit series and even those of us who had never seen the show, were left wondering “why?”