Unlike most women, Ellen Pompeo, who's featured on the cover of the newest TV Guide, prays for bad hair days.

Not for herself, of course, but for basket case Meredith Grey. After all, it seems the surgical intern played by the 36-year old Pompeo is often trying to wash one man or another out of her hair. When she's going through hard times (pretty much non-stop), Meredith's hair looks particularly rough.

"The worse she's doing, the messier it is. She sleeps with too many guys and never seems to learn any lessons. But I guess if she did, it would mean no show," said Pompeo, who rises at 5 a.m. to begin shooting Grey's Anatomy.

In real life, Ellen's morning rounds consist of feeding Valentino and Gigi, her brown and black miniature toy poodles, then coffee with her boyfriend, music producer Chris Ivery. After that, some yoga and, time permitting, some weight lifting. The rail-thin Pompeo has jackrabbit-like metabolism and relies on workouts to build muscle tone.

"I'm the type who has to build muscle to get any curves at all," she said.

At work, Ellen's trailer is stocked with multivitamin lemonade and vitamin water to power her through the day. Between scenes, if she isn't napping, she catches up on phone calls, e-mails and film scripts. If she's filming very late, Ivery comes by to hang out. Pompeo, who swears by her TiVo, says her current TV obsession is Bravo's Blow Out, but considering Ivery's line of work, there are American Idol evenings as well.

Such is the life of the eponymous Grey's Anatomy star. You'll have to grab the new edition of TV Guide to read the full story, but for now, you can check out the pictures from her photo shoot in our image gallery!

Steve Marsi is the Managing Editor of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Google+ or email him here.