Shonda Rhimes to Receive PGA’s 2016 Norman Lear Award

Shonda Rhimes is the queen of television, and anyone who would deny that probably doesn’t even own a TV set. “And then surgery, just the idea that you could hold a human being’s heart in your hand and you are responsible for life or death”. “Her pioneering work on Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder has redefined the role of women in media and spurred the debate about diversity in television”, said co-chairs Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd in a statement.

With three hit ABC shows, her workaholic tendencies and her panic attack-inducing shyness left her secretly miserable.

She adds that she has “a lot more” energy now – but admits she’s “always going to want to eat fried chicken”.

“I have a 3-year-old and a 13-year-old and a 2-year-old, and I wanted to be around for them, be healthy”.

“I work really hard in every other area of my life”, she told Chang. “Being a competitive person, having a number and a goal helps me”, she revealed. “But the two of us had so many similarities”.

In September, Rhimes hogged the limelight when she publicly declared that marriage is something that she does not want. “I got in my seat, I took off my shoes I got out by book and I went to buckle the seatbelt and it wouldn’t buckle and I thought to myself, something is wrong with the seatbelt, it’s broken”. She created Grey’s Anatomy, which is now in its 12th season, and Scandal, which is in its fifth.

Rhimes doesn’t shy away from pushing the limits of social norms on her shows, and has no problem throwing out the “fairy tale ending”. “I just think they have to decide what their fairy tale ending is- and not go with the standard one that everyone’s told them they’re supposed to have”.