Katherine Heigl shuts down major ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ drama rumor: ‘I wasn’t trying to be a d – – k’
Katherine Heigl can’t escape the drama from “Grey’s Anatomy.”
The actress, 45, shut down the rumor that she turned down an Emmy Award nomination for her role in the ABC series on the June 28 episode of Shannen Doherty’s podcast “Let’s Be Clear.”
“Well, I didn’t, and everybody keeps saying that. I didn’t turn it down,” Heigl said.
“You know, you have to submit yourself. You have to submit your work, and then they deliberate and then they decide if they want to give you a nomination,” she added. “I just didn’t submit my work that year.”
In 2008, Heigl declined Emmy consideration for her work as Dr. Izzie Stevens a year after she won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
She said in a statement at the time: “I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.”
The actress quit the show two years later.
On the podcast, Heigl acknowledged that she “should have said nothing” about the Emmys controversy.
“I should have said, ‘Oh, I forgot [to submit my work],’ because it created such a maelstrom that was so unnecessary, and it really was,” she said.
Heigl went on: “I was kind of trying to make a bit of a snarky point about my material that year, but I was also just not feeling my material. I didn’t think I had anything that warranted even the consideration for a nomination. I just wasn’t proud of my work. I would never be so bold or so arrogant to turn down a nomination. I would take that nomination if it came my way. I’d be down.”
“But I just knew there wasn’t anything that would really warrant one that year, and I was trying to be honorable, I guess,” she added. “I was trying to have some integrity. I wasn’t trying to be a d – – k.”
In addition to the Emmys drama, Heigl was labeled “difficult” and was rumored to be involved in on-set antics during her time on “Grey’s.”
She addressed how she was made to be “the bad guy” during her 2023 Variety’s “Actors on Actors” interview with former co-star Ellen Pompeo.
“I was so naive,” she said. “I got on my soapbox, and I had some things to say, and I felt really passionate about this stuff. I felt really strongly. I felt so strongly that I also got a megaphone out on my soapbox. There was no part of me that imagined a bad reaction.”
The “27 Dresses” star explained that the success of “Grey’s” gave her “false confidence,” which resulted in her “getting real mouthy.”
“You were just a little early, because they came out with this thing where everybody has their own megaphone and they get a blue check. It’s called Twitter,” said Pompeo, 54. “You were just a little ahead of your time, lady.”
Heigl reunited with her former co-stars Pompeo, Justin Chambers, James Pickens Jr. and Chandra Wilson at the 2024 Emmy Awards in January.
Before the ceremony, Heigl said on the red carpet, “In one way, it feels like I just saw them all, and then in another, it’s like all this life has passed.”
