Was not prepared to let go of our marriage: Patrick Dempsey

"

Grey's Anatomy

" star Patrick Dempsey, who has reconciled with wife

Jillian

after announcing their split in 2015, says he decided to work on his marriage as he was not ready to end their 15-year-old union.

Dempsey and Jillian, who raise three children together, had shocked fans by announcing their break up but they eventually worked out their differences.

"Our marriage was not something I was prepared to let go of. I didn't feel like we had done all the work. And we both wanted to do that work. That's where it started," Dempsey told People magazine.

The "Bridget Jones's Baby" star says it was scary to imagine the end of his marriage.

"It's always destabilizing when you're potentially breaking up a family or you have a big section of your life that's ending," he said.

"Everybody has their own path. Jill and I decided it was time to work on our issues and improve. We wanted to be role models for our kids like, okay, if you have differences, you can work them out."

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Dempsey, 50, who left Grey's Anatomy in April 2015, also began to pull back from his passion for car racing to devote more time to his family.

"You can only do one thing at a time and do it well. I (learned) to prioritize. Our union has to be the priority. I wasn't prepared to give up on her and she wasn't either. We both wanted to fight for it."