Katherine Heigl and her big ‘ol mouth and ego are going to take a five episode leave of absence from Grey’s Anatomy and the good news is that Ms. Ungrateful won’t be paid for her time off – at least by ABC. She will be getting a fat paycheck for the movie she’ll be filming when she’s off the show, a no-doubt predictable romcom co-starring Josh Duhamel called Life as We Know It. (There was a gem of a TV show called Life as We Know It that aired on ABC for one season in 2004. I don’t think that’s related to this film at all though.)
The last time Heigl trashed the show that launched her career was on “The Late Show”. She complained bitterly that she was on set the first day for 17 hours, and it later turned out that the 17 hour day was all Heigl’s fault – producers had rearranged their filming schedule to accommodate her promotional appearances for The Ugly Truth. After that, we heard ABC President Steve McPherson call Heigl’s comments “unfortunate,” and hint that she was being ridiculous. “People are going to behave in the way they choose to behave.” He added that “There are so many people who work so hard on ‘Grey’s,’ and all of our shows, without any notoriety and those are the ones I’d be concerned about, people who feel like they’re being criticized or looked down upon.” All Heigl has to do to demean someone is open her mouth and the words just come shooting out. She can’t seem to grant an interview without being blatantly offensive.
We don’t have enough space to recap most of the mean things Heigl has said, but it’s worth noting that she did trash the writers on the show when she deemed to pull herself out of the Emmy race in 2008, saying in a statement “I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination.”
If this spoilerific story on E! Online is to be believed, the writers have exacted some revenge on Heigl’s character Izzie. I won’t reveal much more here, but Izzie’s fate seems quite fitting given the terrible attitude of the actress who plays her. Will any of our Grey’s fans miss Dr. Izzie if her leave of absence is made permanent, (I’m not saying it will be, I’m just posing that scenario) or has her time come to get her ass kicked off the show? I’m kind of surprised this hasn’t happened earlier, and that it’s not yet permanent.
Katherine Heigl is shown shopping on 8/22/09 with her mom and her husband, Josh Kelley. Credit: Fame Pictures.
it’s such a shame that katherine heigl has to be an ungrateful cow. she was the reaston i started watching grey’s anatomy five (is that right?) years ago.
now i’m just so tired of her attitude. if she doesn’t want it, i have plenty of actor friends who’d love to take her place.
Now if we could just get her to take a leave of absence from her movie career, things would be great.
That dress is just so wrong.
It is a shame the media portrays her this way. She didnt complain bitterly about anything. If you watch her interview there is no malice or anger in her words it is lighthearted banter with Letterman. The fact is this woman is vilified for speaking her mind and its pretty disgraceful as far as I am concerned. If a man had said any of the comments she had it would have been lauded as being strong and showing leadership. Instead she is labelled a diva or an ingrate. The double standards shown by ABC are deplorable. Her co-star has a sex tape and is shown high on drugs, she makes a comment about working long hours, yet ABC have nothing to say about the former and moan about the latter. It seems being honest is less acceptable that drug use and sex tapes. What planet are people on? As for some idiotic notion it is revenge by ABC – that is just plain stupid. Heigl is obviously keen to pursue movies and ABC clearly do not want to let her go. Why? She is the only star they have on the show. The fact this article even exists is testament to that. Go look around the web, it is everywhere. She generates more publicity for the show than the rest of the cast combined. ABC know this. Personally I wish her all the success in her movie career – she is a talented actress.
In response to Kenny, while I do think the media exagerates so many things that it would be impossible to keep track of them, and I very much like Heigl’s work as an actor, the frequency of these reports does make me wonder.
I don’t think she’s a cow, I don’t think she’s a terrible person — I do think she’s someone who should consider herself very fortunate to be in her current position, especially right now. Maybe she does realize how fortunate she is. I’ve never thought she was stupid, so I’m sure on some level she appreciates it.
I think that what has so many people upset is that all we seem to hear from her are complaints. Could the media be choosing to highlight the things she says that could be construed as negative, just because they’ve decided that they don’t like her anymore? Maybe so. But in that particular Letterman interview that so many people are focusing on, I don’t think it can be considered gracious at all to refer to a situation as “cruel and mean” and to say “I hope this embarasses them” when that situation was created by the production staff working hard to accomodate her schedule.
Certainly nobody is gracious all the time. But I think that people who are fortunate enough to have the kind of income and lifestyle that someone like Katharine Heigl does are held, by the public, to a higher standard. I can complain about my 9 – 5, and it’s going to be heard by 2 people. She complains, and it gets heard by 2 million. People do blow things out of proportion, but part of her job, along with the pleasant things, is being mindful of how she comes across.
I laud KH for speaking her mind. I think she might want censor herself at times or try to phrase things differently. But Kerry has a point. She is one of the few in Hollywood who aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves and speak their minds. It’s refreshing.
Sides she’s very talented. And though I know she won’t win, she should win the Emmy for her work as Izzie last season. It was her best work-and not many TV actresses today can compare. And nothing could last season.
It is not “refreshing” for someone to s**t on their good fortune and the show that MADE their career.
It is not “speaking your mind” to s**t on the writers of the show that MADE your career.
No one would have said that a man was “showing good leadership” for complaining about the material he was being giving. No one would have said that a man was “strong” for whining about a long work day.
No one appreciates or likes a whiner.
AbbeyRoad, I completely agree with your post.
Whether it’s her fault or the media’s, all we hear is her complaining, and as you said, she needs to remember how very fortunate she is and that she chose to be in a profession that makes her a public figure.
I wouldn’t want to hear any actor b*tch and complain about the hands that feed them – guy or girl!
And… she’s a great actor???????? wft? Any show or movie she’s in she plays the exact same character! KH can pull off a rom-com (kinda) and that’s about it.
The hell is that mess she’s wearing?
A good move for her now would be to speak positively of the show that boosted her career to the height it is now.