“I didn't want to be a bitch!”: Katherine Heigl reflects on her shock departure from Grey's Anatomy

The actress who played Izzy left the Shonda Rhymes series in the middle of season 6.

It's been almost fifteen years since Katherine Heigl has left Seattle hospital and said goodbye to his co-stars Grey's Anatomy. A departure that deprived viewers of the time of a beloved character, Izzie, and which took place after a few awkward exits, one on the film Knocked up, instructions for use of Judd Apatow in which she plays one of the main roles and which she had somewhat fallen into disrepute in the media; the other on her Emmy Award nomination for her performance in season 5.

At the time, she withdrew her candidacy for the prestigious award, assuring: “I do not feel that I have had the material necessary this season to merit an Emmy nomination and in the spirit of maintaining the integrity of this academy organization, I am withdrawing my name from the competition.”

Today, Katherine Heigl looks back on this troubled period on the podcast “Let's Be Clear” of Shannen Doherty (Charmed, The Little House On The Prairie). She begins by returning to the information according to which she had refused her nomination for the Emmy Awards:

“Actually, I didn't do it even though everyone keeps saying so.she assures. I didn't refuse it. To get a nomination, you have to submit your application yourself. You have to submit your work and then the jury deliberates and they decide whether to nominate you or not.[…] I just didn't submit my work to the Emmys that year. I shouldn't have said anything. I should have said I forgot to submit my name because it created such a scandal. It wasn't necessary! I was mostly trying to make a snide comment on the material I had that year because I didn't feel it at all.”

11 Years Later, Katherine Heigl Tells the Whole Truth About Her Departure from Grey's Anatomy

Regarding his performance in Grey's Anatomywhom she judged very harshly at the time in what was interpreted as a judgment on the way her character was written and used, she maintains this version:

“I didn't think I was even worthy of consideration for an Emmy nomination. I wasn't proud of my work. I would never be so bold or arrogant as to turn down a nomination. I would take it if it came my way. I would be up for it! But I knew there was nothing worthy of one that year. I was just trying to be honorable, I guess. I was trying to maintain some integrity. I really didn't want to be a jerk!”

This is not the first time that the forty-five-year-old actress has spoken out about the events that led to the lull in her career leading up to her casting in Suits: Tailor-made lawyers in 2018, and his participation in the production of Firefly Lane (Always there for you) in 2021. The same year, Katherine Heigl confided in her memoir, How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomyin which she returned to her sudden departure from the show Shonda Rhimesmotivated, according to her, by her desire to dedicate herself to her family.

Last year, she also confided in Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey in Grey's Anatomy) in the format “Actor on Actor” of Variety :

“I went and got my soapbox, I put it down, I got on my soapbox, and I had things to say. And I felt really invested in this topic. I was so passionate about it that I pulled out a megaphone, on my soapbox. I didn’t think for a second that there would be any negative reactions. I felt really entitled in what I was feeling. It took me a while to stop feeling like a victim because of the reaction that I got, and to find and eliminate all of that media noise, because I’ve spent most of my life (I think most women) in this people-pleasing mode. It’s really disconcerting when you feel like you’ve upset everyone, and I didn’t mean to, but I had things to say.”