Ellen Pompeo detained 'for an hour' by TSA and bomb squad for bizarre reason

Ellen Pompeo was detained by the TSA and "bomb squad" over a "bag of sunflower seeds".

The 'Grey's Anatomy' actress has revealed an awkward moment at the airport recently when she set off the alarms and the Transportation Security Administration pulled her in for questioning before she could board her flight.

She told Travel + Leisure magazine: "I had a bag of sunflower seeds, like organic sunflower seeds from Erewhon, so they were probably the most expensive sunflower seeds money can buy.

"They literally held me for an hour, and they brought the bomb squad in. And I was like, what is happening? Is this a joke?

"They said it was most likely a chemical on the packaging of these super expensive, fancy, organic, clean sunflower seeds. My protein on the plane!”

The 55-year-old star revealed she offered to throw the snack away, but the TSA apparently told her to wait for the bomb squad to arrive to assess the unopened bag.

She added: "“I almost missed the flight. It was really like no one would ever believe this!

"I was texting my publicist saying, 'I might not get on this plane, and you're never gonna guess why.' "

Despite the awkward moment, Ellen opened up about her love for travelling, although she explained how she tries to keep mer morning sauna routine going when she's away from Los Angeles.

She said: "I’ll try to look for hotels with saunas.

"Not everybody has a cold plunge. Cold plunges are a relatively, you know, sort of bougie, new thing.

"I think most of these older hotels don't have it, but a cold shower, I think, does the same.”

Meanwhile, Ellen recently took aim at streamers for "unfair" treatment towards actors in the way residual payments are structured.

She told Variety: "Them having the ability to use my voice, my likeness, my image, 47 billion minutes a year and not paying me a penny wouldn’t really feel great to me.

“People don’t stream the last 10 years more than they stream the first 10 years. Most people stream the first 10 years the most, and there’s no residual structures for any of those writers, actors, directors.

"That, to me, is really s***** and really unfair. So, me being on the show a little bit and still getting to at least make money from them profiting off of us is more digestible for me. That’s why I stay on, to be honest.”