Gregory Robinson
Katherine Heigl was once asked bluntly about the rumours that she’s ‘very rude’.
The former Grey’s Anatomy actress joined Meredith Vieira on her talk show in 2014 and addressed the interview that is said to have ‘ruined her career overnight’.
In 2008, Heigl appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair and during her interview with the magazine, she criticised her starring role in the hit comedy, Knocked Up, in which she co-starred with Seth Rogen.
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The movie, despite having an impressive 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes grossing $219.1 million (around £175.6 million) at the box office, was not perfect by any means according to Heigl, who played a reporter who discovers she's pregnant after a drunken one night stand with a slacker (played by Rogen).
"It was a little sexist," she said at the time. "It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys.
"It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a b*tch; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women?
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"Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie.”
Heigl seemed unfazed by Vieira’s direct approach.
She responded: “You know what, I've been saying I don't think I am, but I'm going to be really honest right now: I'm not," the actor begins.
"I know I'm not. I don't need to think about it. I'm not a rude person, I'm not an unkind or mean person.
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"I would never go out of my way or consciously hurt anyone's feelings or make them feel bad or uncomfortable or not be professional and do my job - I like my job."
She continues: "But I will continue to stand up for myself. And I'm not going to stop standing up for my right to be heard, my right to be treated respectfully and professionally in return, my right to draw boundaries.
"I am a strong woman and I'm not going to apologise for that."
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Heigl is also known for not holding back when talking about the material she was given in the behemoth medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.
The mum-of-three portrayed Dr. Izzie Stevens on the show - created by Scandal and Bridgerton mastermind Shonda Rhimes - in the show's first six seasons until 2010.
When Heigl withdrew her name from Emmy contention in 2008, she said in a statement to the New York Times: "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 organisation, I withdrew my name from contention."
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She later told Howard Stern that she said those statements because she 'wasn’t feeling good about my work that season' and has since apologised to Rimes.
“I went in because I was really embarrassed,” she 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."