Here are some photos of Katherine Heigl at this weekend’s NBC Universal press tour/Upfronts in LA. She looks nice, doesn’t she? When she isn’t dressed like her mom, she looks very nice, although I will say this… this is how every mom wants her daughter to dress. Right? Anyway, by now everybody knows that Katherine has a fatal case of foot-in-mouth disease. She has alienated so many screenwriters, TV writers, producers, directors and fellow actors, it’s no wonder that her career has been in the toilet for the past three or four years. But Heigl is attempting a comeback of sorts – she’s giving up on her movie star dreams and returning to TV with a new hour-long NBC drama which just sounds like a take-off on Homeland and Scandal.
Heigl recently gave a magazine interview which was sort of like the beginning of the new, softer Dame Heigl. She used the passive voice to describe her stunted career, like bad choices just “happened” and she wasn’t making those decisions (or alienating those people). So, as far as I’m concerned, asking her about all of her career history is fair game. Still, she seemed surprised when a journalist brought it up during the press tour.
It was the question everybody wanted to ask—and it got so awkward when someone finally did. NBC’s State of Affairs panel during the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills got a bit tense when the topic turned to Katherine Heigl, her mother Nancy (an executive producer on the upcoming series), and rumors about the pair’s reputation on set. It started when a TCA reporter reminded Heigl about some of the controversial remarks she had to say about Hollywood, particularly focused on her conduct on set, whether her career was out of her control, and whether she felt there is “a portion of this controversy that is about Hollywood not knowing what to do with a woman who speaks her mind.” The reporter also asked whether Heigl felt her career was now back under her grip.
After a visibly speechless Heigl let out an elongated “Umm…,” producer Ed Bernero tried to answer the question for Heigl, but the reporter pressed on: “Seriously, I want to hear from Katherine.”
“I don’t know that I said I felt my career was not under my control,” Heigl said. “I think I said I felt I had stopped challenging myself and I was making choices that I loved, that I was excited about. I loved doing romantic comedies, I loved doing them and I loved watching them, but I stopped … exercising different muscles of my ability. And in that moment, I felt that I was sort of letting down my audience, that I wasn’t challenging them either.”
Heigl continued: “I think that this opportunity is — and I think a lot of people want to know why this show, why come back to television — it’s because it’s an extraordinary role, it’s an extraordinary opportunity, and an extraordinary story, and it’s an opportunity for me to flex some different muscles and show a different side of myself as an actor and a performer and a storyteller that I hope my audience will be excited about and love.”
Heigl then addressed the reporter’s second concern, fielding rumors that she and her mother might be difficult to work with. “I can’t really speak to that. I can only say that I certainly don’t see myself as being difficult. I would never intend to be difficult. I don’t think my mother sees herself as being difficult. We always … I think it’s important to everybody to conduct themselves professionally and respectfully and kindly. If I’ve ever disappointed somebody, it was never intentional.”
Prior to Heigl’s question, one critic called Nancy Heigl’s executive producer credit “stage mothering to the extreme” when asking NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt and president Jennifer Salke about the move. Salke responded: “I’ll tell you very honestly … we had an amazing meeting with them. They’re both very smart, formidable women, and I’m not just giving lip service to this—they’ve been fantastic producers and incredibly smart through this process. She’s someone who has a strong opinion, but we’ve found her to be nothing but adamant to the process, and also Katie really relies on her in her life. It’s a real partnership that seems to work for both of them and it’s been great for us. But it’s not surprising when the mother walks in the door with her, we knew they were a set and worked together in the past. I would call her her ‘mom-ager,’ her best friend … she’s a partner in her life. They have a very natural shorthand. So far, so good.”
First, that’s quite a euphemism: “…I felt that I was sort of letting down my audience, that I wasn’t challenging them either.” That’s like saying “low-information voters.” It’s a euphemism for stupid people. Heigl’s words are a euphemism from “I was making stupid movies for stupid women.”
As for the stuff about her being difficult… I give her credit for answering the question. But I do think her answer lacks a sort of public acknowledgement of self-awareness on Heigl’s part. It’s not that I believe she lacks awareness about her own behavior and her mom’s behavior – I think she’s just trying to gloss over everything to promote her show. She doesn’t want to spend this press tour saying, “I made horrible mistakes in my career and I only came back to television because no one wanted me in their movies anymore.” But yes, she comes across as a woman who is so ignorant of her OWN history that she’s doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Katherine Heigl: ‘I can only say that I certainly don’t see myself as being difficult’
Look again!
Or that her mother is difficult. Her mother that herself added as a exec producer (as well as K. Heigl being a producer)
That alone tells me that this has disaster written all over it. And they won’t learn anything from it.
Another sign this show won’t be good: the show is exec produced by Joe Carnahan – Smokin’ Aces was so bad that after seeing it Reese Witherspoon immediately withdrew from his next movie. Ouch.
Good point Bridget. Recently Carnaham made a film with Chris Pine. Well that film is in limbo after Universal dropped the film.
Now that is self-awareness!
They’ve done studies about Americans and self-esteem. Our students don’t know anything but think very highly of themselves, whereas in Japan they know EVERYTHING and think they are dumb. And our prisoners have terrific self-esteem! In the USA you can feel good about yourself matter how awful you are!
So is your point that thinking one is stupid or having low self esteem, is akin to ‘self awareness’. Because I don’t think either inflated/faux self esteem OR faux/inflated low self esteem are the same as thoughtful self awareness. [ie, culturally, it’s inappropriate in japan to speak well of yourself especially related to the educational environment-i call that ‘faux low self esteem’ not a character trait to be admired].
LOL! those studies seem interesting and the results makes sense to me.
I am skeptical of studies without reference. I will say our epidemic of obesity is likely tied to a lack of self-esteem and we seem to be self-comforting with food so I am also skeptical about how self-confident we actually are.
I’m not inclined towards violence, but can I punch her? I really want to punch her. Just a little fake punch, or maybe pin the head on the donkey (ass) kind of punch.
I can only say that I’m not a snarky A-hole. You buying that?
BTW, you are all over the place with Equidae today.
Don’t get me started; I was totally that annoying horse girl.
Am I allowed to ask what your chosen profession is, Kiddo? I’ve mentioned it before, but your intellect is massive. Largely even. 😀
Well of course you didn’t, but that’s why they say hind sight is 20/20. If conflict always surrounds you, and you’re the common denominator, reevaluate.
That’s a very nice way to put it; may I borrow it? I know someone rather like Ms. Heigl, and have been using the “Justified” quote (“If you run into an a-hole in the morning, you ran into an a-hole. If you run into a-holes all day, you’re the a-hole.”), but I think your version sounds more intelligent (and cleaner).
That was the exact quote I was thinking of! I find myself wanting to tell that to many people, many times.
That’s exactly what I came here to say. No one who’s difficult thinks they’re difficult.
Here’s my conclusion about Kat: she doesn’t think she was any more difficult than other successful women in her industry. We hear it all the time about bitchy, diva behavior from JLO to Rihanna to Reese, but they are all still massively successful. So, on one level, she’s right. She made stupid movies thinking stupid women would love it and she gets an easy paycheck. Ppl who think like that are suprised by the backlash. Cuz we’re not as stupid as initially believed. We are more selective and fickle as an audience. None of these stories, none of them would matter if those crap movies were successful in spite of her reputation. The fact that she epically lost money, on top of that reputation, is what finds her in her situation. It’s not just because she’s difficult.
She bit the hand that fed and created her, something those other ladies never did. Hollywood forgives many things, hello Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, but if you undermine the project, they’ll NEVER forgive you.
Oh, of course she did all those things. I’m just speaking to what her thinking and rationalization may be over this. I mean, she dissed Shonda Rimes and others after. The quality of scripts must have taken a nosedive and she made bad projects because they were probably the best of what she had. But again, I can see how she rationalizes it differently on another (although delusional) level.
Hey I like saying Bob Loblaw out loud 🙂
She looks like Brandi Glanville in that last picture.
Do peole that are difficult think of themselves as difficult?
I’ve worked with a couple of managers who not only knew they were difficult but cultivated being difficult.
But most of the difficult people I’ve worked with really seemed clueless that they were pains in the ass, for whatever reason they were pains in the ass.
I know, right? Like the co-worker who constantly whines and complains and alienates themselves from every other co-worker and then whines and complains that nobody in the office likes them and they just don’t understand why? Uggghhhhh………..
It’s always everyone else’s fault with these types of people. The bitch did not fall from the bitch tree. I’m looking forward to the workplace tales of terror.
No
I would agree that most have no idea. And in the reverse some of my nicest, easy going clients apologize when they have questions or need something.
I’m pretty easy going, but I can be difficult about certain things, if they’re really important to me and I don’t feel like I’m being listened to. I think it’s fine for Katherine to have a strong opinion about stuff she is producing and acting, but it seems like she’s repeatedly crossed the line, and makes the project difficult for everyone around her, without results that justify the headaches.
As you said: Having a strong opinion is one thing, and one I can relate to, too, for that matter. Being plain disrespectful to others is a whole other story.
“Being difficult” is one thing and as many have pointed out, can’t possibly be the exception to the rule in Hollywood. I think the problem comes in airing your grievances to the press instead of saying what you think to the people responsible for causing you grief. If Katherine had a problem with the writing on her show, she should’ve taken it to the show runner — which she probably did. But that’s it. Once you’ve gone up the chain of command as far as you can get and can’t be satisfied, your options are to stay and zip it, or leave and cite “creative differences.” Heigel didn’t do that.
It’s not being difficult that makes you hard to work with; it’s the fact that you’ll talk about how difficult other people are to work with in public. Who likes being talked s#it about behind their back, whether deserved or not? Who wants to work with someone who is NOT ONLY difficult to work with but likely to talk s#it about you later if you don’t get along?
Considering how much relationships matter in Hollywood, a normal difficult person would know to give bland denials to the press. Heigel just wouldn’t play that game and hence the ostracism.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! Total denial.
Can’t stand her! Crap actress.
I once adored her as Izzie on Grey’s Anatomy, but after reading and actually “seeing” things she said online re: the Greys’ Anatomy writers, she lost me. Removing herself from Emmy consideration b/c the writing did not deserve it?? What is that? And I saw an interview with Shonda Rimes years later, and she was gracious in talking about the controversy, unlike Heigl ever was.
Katherine Heigl was sitting on a million dollar ticket with that show and she shit all over it. Sorry for the poor language but it is the truth.
I loved Izzy too. Then I heard more and more about KH and she ruined it for me.
Yup Ellen Pompeo said as much last year in another interview. She was basically saying they all signed a long term contract and them Katie decided she wanted to be a movie star so she did everything in her power to get a release. So I believe all those rumors about her and her mommy going on a rampage. She wanted Shonda to cut the contract without breeching it so they were impossible to work with (the Emmy stunt, bitching about working long hours after the producers accommodated her film schedule, refusing to come back on the agreed upon date after her maternity leave). I remember at the time, she used the “I want to bond with my daughter” so that’s why she negotiated a release from her contract but if everyone recalls the timeline, she ran off the Grey’s set and made that horrible movie with Josh Duhamel so that’s a total lie.
I cackled with glee when I read she was ambushed at the meet and greet. Haha.
NBC, you don’t know what you signed up with with the codependent duo.
As far as I remember she wanted to do both GA and motion pictures, and wanted the GA team or production to accommodate her wish. I think I read that after the Emmy stunt.
@pumpkin pie. Go back and read Ellen Pompeo’s interview. It was the truth. She didn’t want to do both movies and TV. She wanted to do movies, period. She followed a long line of people with medium talent who abandoned a sure thing to star in movies – only to come back to tv (David Caruso, Farrah Fawcett are two).
GA did accommodate her. They doubled down on the shooting schedule so she can make her horrible Ugly Truth. Then she still went on Letterman to complain that they were being inhumane to make her work long hours.
So nope, she never wanted to stay on Grey’s. She thought she was the next big thing in movies but she doesn’t have the staying power.
That smiling picture is terrifying. It’s so over the top fake. It looks painful!
Difficult people don’t see themselves as difficult. She needs to stop giving interviews of get a better PR firm.
Or maybe get a personality transplant, and stop being so f-ing difficult.
I don’t think difficult people see themselves as difficult people because it is a subjective point of view on how you view how someone else acts or reacts to certain things. You could be correct maybe she needs a better PR Firm, and to be honest, I am constantly wondering what is the role of the PR person now a days, besides photo bombing their clients at red carpet events (because there is where I only see them, they don’t seem – and I know I am generalizing- to be around the client giving them sound advice). For some reason, I have never seen her as difficult, just annoying.
“I have never seen her as difficult, just annoying. ” The problem is when you’re that annoying over a long period of time, as she has been, it ‘becomes’ difficult.
It’s a sustained behavior with her.
So, that Hollywood Reporter article quoting one Hollywood insider after another was what, more character assassination of “strong Katie Heigl?” Can I get a “b!tch, please?!” She’s an a-hole, she sounds like an a-hole in interview after interview, she’s sounded like one on stage and in statements. Ugh. Would rather light my hair on fire than watch this show, which they should have named Budget Homeland.
See? Such a bitch please kinda day!!
The full account of this press conference is painfully embarrassing! It is true though that she was making stupid films for stupid women…but actors have entire thriving careers making them for stupid men…so…is she seeing how maybe there was more to her career problems?
Difficult and delusional.
Ugh. This is a case where they really shouldn’t have pushed her up front on this.
She’s exhausting.
Of course she doesn’t see it. Awful people never do.
Her smile definitely does NOT reach her eyes in any of those photos.
I’m thinking she has probably worked around difficult people and seen them get away with it, or even thrive. Add a narcissistic pov and a like minded mother egging her on and you have a recipe for disaster. It’s a shame because she’s not a bad actress, and I appreciate anyone who speaks out against homophobia and sexism. There are probably lesser talents with bigger egos who have managed to fly under the radar. But she has earned a reputation now and it’s going to be very hard to shake, even if she wanted to.
I don’t see myself as bitchy but, hey, I am. It’s time she looks at herself and admit her faults (and her mom’s) if she wants to change, or at least if she want her success back.
Katherine Heigl: “I can only say that I certainly don’t see myself as being difficult.”
That’s like me saying: “I can only say that I certainly don’t see myself as being tall.” (I’m 5’11”.)
Own it, girl! I would respect her a lot if she had the actual self-awareness to say: “You know what, I can only say that I was young and ignorant and my fame got to my head and I certainly thought of myself as bigger and more important then I actually was. I acted like a spoiled brat, and I’m not proud of it. I had a lot of earnest apologizing to do once I grew up and I’m still amazed that people were actually willing to move past it and gave me a second chance. I cannot tell you just how grateful I am.”
I would root for her in a heartbeat if she showed that kind of self-awareness.
This woman had opportunities for fame and fortune that thousands of actresses would kill for and she flushed it all down the toilet.
Whoooooooosh
Most difficult people do not see themselves as being difficult. If they did, they’d change, or at least have the decency to be embarrassed. By all accounts, she’s a nightmare to work with. Are all of these people wrong? Doubt it.
yeah sure, you’re not difficult. that’s why when you went to a restaurant in l.a., you were given the right to smoke INDOORS while others were dining because you demanded it so. NOT difficult at all….you delusional b-.
I didn’t mind her answer but it bugged me whenever she referred to viewers as “my audience”.
Who says that?
“A portion of this controversy that is about Hollywood not knowing what to do with a woman who speaks her mind.” I hate this defense. She was unprofessional and disrespectful to her employers and her co-workers. Playing the “sexist” card is a piss-poor way to excuse her behavior and does nothing for the sisterhood. There is a long list of loud mouthed bitches making it big in HW and not just today. This arrogant, self-important twit need to take several seats with her Momager. She is insufferable, she and Gwyneth should get together for a duel of pretensions.