It has solely taken our tradition over a decade to reckon with the reality: We completely did Katherine Heigl soiled.
Scrubbing again into some mid-aughts “Gray’s Anatomy” drama, Ellen Pompeo has come to her former co-star’s defence greater than a decade after she controversially exited the long-running medical drama.
Heigl was branded as a villain for clashing with the powers behind the ABC collection after publicly criticising the tough working situations on set and later withdrawing her identify from Emmy rivalry over lacklustre materials.
However Pompeo is now praising Heigl for making “ballsy” feedback on the time.
“I keep in mind Heigl stated one thing on a chat present in regards to the insane hours we had been working, however she was 100% proper — and had she stated that right now she’d be a whole hero, however she was forward of her time,” she stated in an episode of her “Inform Me” podcast.
“After all, let’s slam a girl and name her ungrateful when the reality is she’s 100% sincere, and it’s completely right what she stated,” Pompeo continued. “And she or he was fucking ballsy for saying it. And she or he was telling the reality. She wasn’t mendacity. Additionally, whenever you’re youthful, you’re so excited to be there and also you’re so blissful to be invited to the social gathering that you just’re keen to do no matter it’s they’re asking you to do.”
Heigl certainly confronted backlash over a 2009 look on “The Late Present With David Letterman,” the place she described her “17-hour” workday as “merciless and imply.”
Heigl addressed these feedback whereas endorsing the Worldwide Alliance of Theatrical Stage Staff strike in a prolonged Instagram publish in September, remarking that she received her “ass kicked for talking up.”
Pompeo, who now additionally serves as one of many govt producers on “Gray’s Anatomy,” defined that the tradition has fortunately advanced since Heigl’s days, including that “happier actors” imply there’s “not as a lot drama.”
“I’m very fortunate now with my schedule on ‘Gray’s,’” she stated. “I get to chop again, and general I’m blissful for the manufacturing as an entire as a result of we now have reduce tremendously. Again within the day, we used to do loopy, loopy hours.”
Whereas Heigl has since starred in a slew of initiatives, together with Netflix’s “Firefly Lane,” she has spoken about how being labeled “troublesome” took a critical toll on each her profession and psychological well being.
“I could have stated a few belongings you didn’t like, however then that escalated to, ‘She’s ungrateful,’ then that escalated to, ‘She’s troublesome,’ and that escalated to, ‘She’s unprofessional,’” she advised The Washington Submit in an interview final yr. “What’s your definition of inauspicious? Any person with an opinion that you just don’t like? Now, I’m 42, and that shit pisses me off.”
Heigl stated that she was “rapidly advised to close the fuck up” amid the fallout from her feedback.
“I requested my mother and my husband to search out me someplace to go that might assist me as a result of I felt like I might moderately be lifeless,” she advised the Submit. “I didn’t understand how a lot anxiousness I used to be dwelling with till I received so unhealthy that I needed to actually search assist. You are able to do quite a lot of interior soul work, however I’m a giant fan of Zoloft.”
Heigl beforehand expressed curiosity in returning to the collection and wrapping up her character’s arc, however creator Shonda Rhimes has stated she’s unequivocally “achieved with that story.”
“I’ve turned that concept over in my thoughts a thousand instances and thought of how it might go,” Rhimes advised TVLine again in 2013. “And I don’t assume so.”
“Gray’s Anatomy,” at present standing because the longest operating medical drama in tv historical past, was renewed for a nineteenth season in January. Aside from Pompeo, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. are the present’s solely remaining unique forged members.
