It turns out there was a whole lot more to the story of Katherine Heigl’s exit from Grey’s Anatomy…
As fans know, the 42-year-old actress played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the beloved medical drama for five years before suddenly departing from the series after six seasons in 2010. During that time, rumors were spreading of feuds with other co-stars and show creator Shonda Rhimes, and stories that Heigl was “difficult to work with” on set ran rampant. It only became worse after Katherine withdrew her name for an Emmy consideration, claiming she was not “given the material to warrant a nomination.” All of this led many viewers to speculate whether the Knocked Up leading lady’s behind the scenes behavior was the true reason for her departure.
Now, more than 10 years later, Heigl has finally set the record straight about why she shockingly left the show. In an excerpt from Lynette Rice’s How To Save A Life: The Inside Story Of Grey’s Anatomy, published by Daily Telegraph on Friday, she apparently admitted that she primarily quit in order to focus on being a first-time mother:
“I started a family, and it changed everything. It changed my desire to work full-time. I went on family leave and just got to be a [mom], and it changed my whole perspective … that was really the turning point.”
So the star, who adopted her daughter Nancy Leigh in 2008 with her husband Josh Kelley, decided to have a conversation with Rhimes about moving on from Grey’s:
“So before I was due back, I spoke again to Shonda about wanting to leave. Then I waited at home until I was given the formal okay that I was off the show. The rumors that I refused to return were totally untrue.”
According to Heigl, the colleagues also talked about juggling her personal and professional life but found it challenging to schedule around her needs. She explained:
“[Shonda] wanted to try to figure out how I could do both [parenting and ‘Grey’s], and I kind of wanted to do both. There wasn’t a great way to compromise the work schedule that didn’t negatively affect the crew or the cast. It wasn’t feeling fair to them or the show to ask them to bend around my needs.”
Understandable! While her departure from the show wasn’t an easy feat, Katherine confessed that she is also partly to blame for the public’s perception of how things went down:
“The ‘ungrateful’ thing bothers me the most. And that is my fault. I allowed myself to be perceived that way. So much about living life, to me, is about humility and gratitude. And I’ve tried very hard to have those qualities and be that person, and I’m just so disappointed in myself that I allowed it to slip. Of course, I’m grateful. How can I not be?”
The Firefly Lane star previously spoke to The Washington Post about feeling frustrated about having a reputation for being “difficult” in Hollywood simply for expressing her opinions. She told the publication:
“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.’ What is your definition of difficult? Somebody with an opinion that you don’t like? Now, I’m 42, and that s**t pisses me off.”
Thoughts, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments (below).
[Image via Patricia Schlein/WENN]
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