11:20 AM Elizabeth: FACT: I now hate Katherine Heigl
That’s an IM I got from my friend this morning, and the sad thing is I didn’t even have to ask her why. She of course, was referring to Katherine Heigl’s reasoning for not submitting her name for Emmy consideration. In a statement to the L.A. Times, Heigl says, "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." Aw, hell no. That is not the statement that a person with a heart full of goodness and the desire to “maintain the integrity” of the Emmy’s makes. That is a bitchslap aimed at the producers and writers of Grey’s Anatomy, pure and simple.
What makes this so odious is that it is the latest in a string of incidences in the past year that have caused Heigl to transform from likable, talented actress on a hit show into, well, a skank. Now, when I say skank, I don’t mean that she’s wearing hootchie clothes and flashing her business—Ms. Heigl is definitely one of the more demure celebrities out there. I am simply referring to her attitude: which is skanky.
When Grey’s Anatomy premiered as a mid-season replacement back in 2005, I started watching. I don’t exactly remember why, as I am generally burned out on medical shows. Despite this and immediately disliking Ellen Pompeo as a lead actress as well as her character, Meredith, I continued to watch. What kept me coming back was the supporting cast—with Katherine Heigl and her character of Izzie quickly becoming one of my favorites.
My love for all things Izzie and Heigl intensified in season two, during the Denny storyline. The season finale, in which Denny and Izzie got engaged right before he died, made me cry. I’m not talking “I got a little choked up,” I mean I cried. It was embarrassing.
As embarrassing as it may be to cry over a nighttime medical soap, it is not nearly as embarrassing as Katherine Heigl’s behavior in the past year, as she seemingly embarked on a quest to win the David Caruso honorary award for Biting The Hand That Feeds You. While Caruso famously left NYPD Blue because he felt it was holding him back only to wallow in obscurity for the next decade, Heigl, in her quest to transition from television to film, has been badmouthing not only the television show that catapulted her to fame, but anyone and everyone else who comes to mind.
It all started with Knocked Up. The comedy did huge box office business and introduced her to a demographic that up to that point probably couldn’t have named her if they were paid. So what does she do? She insults writer/director Judd Apatow and the film in Vanity Fair, saying that “it was hard for [her] to love the movie.” Now, some would argue that she had a valid point, that the women were, in fact, painted as “shrews, as humorless and uptight” as she said. Regardless, it’s not the best way to ingratiate yourself to the people who pay you to be in movies or the fans who forked over ten bucks to see you.
The Katherine Heigl “so you like me? Well I’ll fix that!” tour continued with her bizarre habit of insulting her new husband, Josh (or Joshua, as she insists on calling him) Kelly in public (most notably on Oprah and Letterman) and saying she wouldn’t actually pay to see 27 Dresses, a film for which she received a big paycheck based on Knocked Up’s success.
Even the things she doesn’t say directly work against her. For months there have been rumors (no doubt started by Heigl herself) that she’s trying to get out of her Grey’s contract so she can focus on movies. Oddly, these rumors began not too long after her stunning but well-deserved Best Supporting actress Emmy win. Heigl’s statement saying that the material she was given doesn’t warrant another Emmy is clearly a bid to get off of Grey’s, a show she obviously thinks she is bigger than.
Granted, she didn’t have a lot to work with this season, but it is an ensemble show, so it’s only natural that the focus would shift to other characters. Maybe when she’s polishing the Emmy she won, she should think about the not-so-distant past and all the awards she wasn’t winning when she was known simply as “the kid from that Gerard Depardu movie,” and settle her disputes in private.
If looked at individually, none of these things is that big of a deal. Instead, it’s the fact that when you put it all together, there’s a definite “mean girl” quality that emerges; the feeling that she’s above it all. Whether it’s her TV show, her movie projects, or her husband, Katherine Heigl seems to be just so eye-rollingly over it. Well, I’m officially over her.
