(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Patrick Dempsey has opened up about the shallowness of fame, explaining that his family have helped him cope with it.

The 45-year-old US actor is well-known for portraying neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy, as well as enjoying a successful movie career.

Patrick has three kids with wife Jillian Fink; nine-year-old daughter Tallulah Fyfe and twin sons Sullivan Patrick and Darby Galen, four, and has thanked his loved ones for keeping him sane in the crazy world of show business.

"Acting is a very difficult profession. It is a hard way to reach the goal and when you've managed to get to the top you realise that fame and success are linked to a great emptiness," he lamented in German magazine In Touch. "My family keeps me in balance."

Family is incredibly important to Patrick, who owns a farmhouse in Maine the state where he was raised. He enjoys being surrounded by countryside, and loves nothing more than escaping his hectic Hollywood lifestyle.

"I've been brought up there right out in the sticks and have a strong relationship to my home," he smiled.

As much as he adores being a father, Patrick added that he has no plans to add to his brood. The heartthrob considers himself too old to cope with the pressures of a newborn.

"To start all over in my age with changing diapers and feeding? No way - I am too old for that!" he laughed. (C) Cover Media