Katherine Heigl's biggest 'Grey's Anatomy' controversy: How opting out of Emmy race soured already bad relations
Katherine Heigl will soon appear with Sarah Chalke in ‘Firefly Lane’. The series based on the New York Times Bestselling book of the same name by Kristin Hannah is a story of two best friends, who were both blessed and cursed by their choices. Heigl, like her character Tully Hart, has also made some choices that have had grave implications on her life and career. And the most famous one of them was the one that had to do with the Emmys.
In 2008, Heigl was arguably most famous as Dr. Izzie Stevens on Shonda Rhimes’ hit medical drama, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. But even as the drama on the show ran high, there was drama behind the scenes as well. In January that year, speaking to Vanity Fair, Heigl questioned some of the choices that the creators of the show had made for her character -- Izzie had an affair with a married friend. “It was a ratings-ploy,” she criticized. “It was absolutely something that shocked people; it wasn’t predictable, and people didn’t see it coming. It’s our fourth season; there’s not a lot of spontaneity left.”
The year before that, Heigl temporarily suspended contract talks with the show’s producers after she sought a raise that she felt would put her on par with other actresses, including Ellen Pompeo, who plays the title character, Dr. Meredith Grey. After ABC issued a statement saying it had already offered “to raise her compensation significantly above the terms of her current contract,” Heigl said she felt disrespected.
But this was all building up to a mid-season finale of sorts, in real life. In June 2008, Heigl -- now a very visible cast member with a few mainstream cinema hits to her name -- had the writers and producers of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ fuming. Heigl had announced that she had opted out of the Emmy race because she was not given good enough material to work with during the previous season of the show.
Heigl said that she had decided not to have herself submitted for a nomination. “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,” she said in a statement. “In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.”
At the time, though, The New York Times reported that Heigl’s decision had fueled speculation in Hollywood that she wanted out of her contract on the series. But that did not immediately happen. She finally bid adieu to the show in 2010. But the damage was already done, and it affected Heigl quite a bit. In fact, she claimed that she was so traumatized by the fallout that she eventually sought professional help.
Eight years later, in 2016, Heigl opened up about it. “I wasn’t feeling good about my work that season, no,” said Heigl. “As an actor, if you want to get nominated [for an Emmy], you have to submit your work. That year, I said I’m not going to submit [anything] because there is nothing I feel good about... I didn’t feel good about my performance... and there was a part of me that thought because I had won the year before, that I needed juicy dramatic emotional material.”
After everything was said and done, Heigl said that she had apologized to Rhimes. “I went in because I was really embarrassed,” Heigl said. “So I went in to [see] Shonda and said, ‘I'm so sorry. That wasn’t cool, and I should not have said that.’ And I shouldn’t have said anything publicly. But at the time, I didn’t think anyone would notice... I just quietly didn’t submit and then it became a story, and I felt I was obligated to make my statement, and [I should have just said], ‘Shut up, Katie.’”
“I had never done therapy until a couple of years ago,” said Heigl. “I started going because of the... scrutiny. I was not handling it well. I was feeling completely like the biggest piece of s*** on the bottom of your shoe. I was really struggling with it and how to not take it all personally and not to feel that there’s something really deeply wrong with me. It was at first very hard.”
She added, “It is definitely anxiety-inducing. And for me, it’s a lot too about just wanting to sleep at night. I don’t want to compromise who I am and what I have to say that I go to bed [thinking about saying stuff that is not me].”
‘Firefly Lane’ is set to premiere on February 3, 2021, only on Netflix.