Dr. Meredith Grey is finally ready for love. The surgeon started dating early in “Grey’s Anatomy” Season 15, and now she has not one but two love interests. There’s Chris Carmack’s Link, the sexy new ortho surgeon, and then there’s Giacomo Gianniotti’s DeLuca, the resident Mer has known for years. There’s an age difference with both men, and that’ll be something “Grey’s” deals with during the 2019 episodes.

“That’s the whole point of the story,” Gianniotti told Entertainment Weekly when asked if the age difference between DeLuca and Meredith would be addressed on the ABC drama.

The actor explained that showrunner Krista Vernoff wanted to make a statement with Meredith’s new love interests. “She wanted to make a comment that in the media, it’s normal for men to always be with younger women. It’s become this normal thing that we don’t really think about,” the Italian actor noted.

“But when the role is reversed in a film or TV show, and the woman is the older one, there is suddenly this weird double-standard, like, ‘Oh, she’s robbing the cradle,’ or ‘What is she doing?’ Krista was interested in exploring that and flipping it on its head by saying, ‘Why can’t it be sexy and empowering for a woman to be with a younger man? Why is that wrong? Why can men get away with it but women can’t?’”

It isn’t just DeLuca who is younger than Meredith. Link was in school with Jo (Camilla Luddington). It stands to reason that he is likely around Jo’s age, possibly a little older since he is already an attending. Jo started her internship nine seasons after Meredith started hers.

While “Grey’s Anatomy” often avoids saying ages and has had its fair share of time jumps, we know the actors’ real ages. Gianniotti is 29, Carmack is 37 and Pompeo is 49. Fans will have to wait and see what the age difference between their characters is, and they’ll be waiting a while.

“Grey’s Anatomy” is on midseason hiatus. The show will return to ABC in 2019.

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