Katherine Heigl opens up about being labelled ‘difficult’

Katherine Heigl’s rise to fame and subsequent fall has been well documented. At one point the actor was a top name at the Emmys, had a fan-favourite character on Grey’s Anatomy, and led a string of successful romantic comedies at the box office. Then she started sharing her opinion, and it all went away. 

Katie, as the 42-year-old is known to family and friends, opened up about that journey in a new interview with the Washington Post, revealing that as soon as she began speaking her truth it felt like the industry that had loved her turned.

“I may have said a couple of things you didn’t like, but then that escalated to ‘she’s ungrateful,’ then that escalated to ‘she’s difficult,’ and that escalated to ‘she’s unprofessional,’ ” Heigl explained. “What is your definition of difficult? Somebody with an opinion that you don’t like? Now, I’m 42, and that s--- pisses me off.”

Back in 2007 Heigl made headlines for saying that Knocked Up, her successful Judd Apatow comedy with Seth Rogen, was “a little sexist” and that it made women look like “shrews.” She also took herself out of the running at the 2008 Emmys because she didn’t feel that she was “given the material” to warrant a nod that season. And in 2009 she complained about the 17-hour days on Grey’s, which were partially a design of her own busy schedule. In the wake of #MeToo and an increased awareness of female rights in the industry, many wonder if Heigl’s comments would be taken the same way today. But back then, they stalled her career. 

“At the time, I was just quickly told to shut the f--- up. The more I said I was sorry, the more they wanted it,” she added. “The more terrified and scared I was of doing something wrong, the more I came across like I had really done something horribly wrong.”

Heigl left Grey’s Anatomy in 2010 to focus on movies, but following the press she received and the way she was labelled as “difficult,” her films failed to bring in as much money. In the Post interview, the actor revealed that she feels her team hid roles that she was losing out on from her. And she speculated that had she continued making hit movies, no one in the industry would have really cared what her opinions were.

“You can be the most awful, difficult, horrible person on the planet, but if you're making them money, they're going to keep hiring you,” she said. “I knew that whatever they felt I had done that was so awful, they would overlook it if I made them money — but then my films started to make not quite as much money.”

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Heigl has opened up before about her reputation following her run on Grey’s Anatomy, a show that has been known for its own share of behind-the-scenes controversies over the years. In 2014, after Heigl and her “momager” Nancy Heigl started their own production company and were doing press for Katherine’s new NBC show State of Affairs, Heigl was asked straight up about her (and by extension her mother’s) reputation as being “difficult” during a panel at the Television Critics Association Press Tour.

“I can only say that I certainly don't see myself as being difficult,” she said at the time. “I would never intend to be difficult. I don't think my mother sees herself as being difficult. I mean, it's most important to everybody to conduct themselves professionally and respectfully and kindly.  So I never… if I have ever disappointed somebody, it was never intentional.”

Despite Heigl’s high hopes for State of Affairs, that series was cancelled after one short season, as was her follow-up TV series, Doubt. Following those gigs, she joined the final two seasons of Suits, which filmed in Toronto, after Patrick Adams and Meghan Markle left. Now the actor is looking ahead with her latest project, Firefly Lane, which she also produces. The TV series is based on Kristin Hannah’s novel of the same name and traces the lives of a fictional talk-show host and her best friend, played by Sarah Chalke.

“I’ve grown into accepting that ambition is not a dirty word, and that it doesn’t make me less of a feminine, loving, nurturing woman to be ambitious and have big dreams and big goals,” Heigl added to the Post ahead of the show’s February 3 release date. “It’s easier to be happy because I have a little more gentleness for myself.”

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