Like many parents, I like to joke that I want to book myself into a psychiatric hospital and get a break from my kids – and it seems that I’m not alone. Grey’s Anatomy star and father of five Justin Chambers (he plays Alex, for those of you who don’t watch it) has booked himself into UCLA psych ward this week for treatment of a sleep disorder.

Chambers, who plays Dr. Alex Karev on the ABC drama, checked into the facility on Tuesday, before promptly checking himself out the following day.

Chambers, 37, who is married with five children aged under 10, went in voluntarily, according to his publicist.

“[He is] exhausted and suffers from a sleeping disorder,” the rep said.

Celebrity Truth

Justin was only in for a short, unspecified amount of time earlier in the week, and missed the drama that must have been last nights admission (oh, you all know who I’m talking about!)

If reports in the New Zealand Herald are to be believed, than it was not necessarily the best place to get some sleep. They say that the hospital has all patients on 24 hour supervision, and that patients can be “quite agitated and screams being heard all hours of the night.”

That seems like a pretty scary place to be. The only psych ward I have ever visited was quiet and pleasant, with patients playing ping pong and watching the Today show. Although I think that people who need to be restrained are usually in a medical ward until they are calm in some hospital systems. Possibly it depends on where a bed is available.

I hope Justin had some good rest, and is ready to tackle the demands of a large family again.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Justin Chambers is shown at the Enchanted World Premiere on 11/17/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Talk about awkward. Former cast member Isaiah Washington joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy on the WGA picket lines on Wednesday. Washington was fired from the show after he “reportedly” referred to gay castmate T.R. Knight as a “f*g.” According to pretty much everyone who was there and has talked about it, Washington was referring to Knight. According to Washington, he was referring to himself and/or Patrick Dempsey (depending on which of his interviews you read) in a derogatory manner. However he definitely repeated the word at the Golden Globes, leading to one of the most awkward cast interviews in history.

The WGA dubbed Wednesday “Diversity Day,” and requested that writers and actors who are gay or a minority show up on the picket line. Washington is currently on NBC’s “Bionic Woman.”

Even without a script, the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” generated plenty of drama Wednesday when they showed up to support picketing writers outside the fabled Paramount Studios lot. Katherine Heigl, who plays Izzie Stevens, and T.R. Knight, who plays her on-screen love interest George O’Malley, were posing for pictures and giving interviews – when controversial former cast member Isaiah Washington showed up. Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, was fired from the show in June amid tension that began when he allegedly used a gay slur to refer to Knight and used the word again during a Golden Globes appearance.

He has since apologized, met with gay leaders and checked into rehab on the advice of his handlers. Grey’s creator and writer Shonda Rhimes [who made the decision to fire Washington], considered one of the most powerful black women in Hollywood, was among those picketing at Paramount. Asked if Washington was with the Grey’s group, Heigl, who had previously publicly criticized Washington told The Daily News, “He’s not with me.”

But Washington denied there were problems with his former co-workers. “They’re former castmates. I’ve been in over 25 movies, I have lots of former castmates.” he said.

[From the Daily News]

Sounds like a pretty awkward reunion to me. And while I’m sure Isaiah Washington has lots of former castmates, to my knowledge he hasn’t referred to any of them with unsavory gay slurs. Frankly if I were in his shoes, I would try to keep a low profile for a few years and do my best to keep getting steady – but not attention-producing – work.

In other WGA strike news, there are some pretty loud rumblings that all of the late night hosts – including Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel – will be returning to their shows in mid-to-late January. Though they all stood by their writers and refused to cross picket lines from the beginning, their shows have lost a massive amount of viewership and most of their staff and crew have been fired. No word on how they’ll return. One would assume less or no monologues or sketches, so probably a mostly interview format. Here’s a funny video about the strike starring Saturday Night Live cast member and writer Fred Armisen as fictional studio head/Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers member (they’re the Writer’s Guild’s foes) Roger A. Trevanti.