Ellen Pompeo and Katherine Heigl say ‘all the things we never would have said’ in their new face-to-face interview for diverseSeries “Actors in Actors”.
the previous instinctive anatomy The co-stars, who played Dr. Meredith Gray and Dr. Izzie Stevens on the long-running medical drama, sat down with each other to discuss everything from bizarre fan encounters, to their least favorite iconic scenes from the hit show, to an ABC executive who almost never made it to the air.
And, of course, they got into Heigl’s controversial exit from the show in 2010, with the actress admitting, “I wouldn’t trade anything in my 20s, but I had absolutely no idea who I was, what I wanted, who I was supposed to be, and who I was pleased with.”
Controversy surrounding Heigl’s role on the show began during the 2008–09 season, when the actress publicly announced that she would not submit herself for Emmy consideration that year, saying she “didn’t feel like I had the material this season to guarantee an Emmy nomination.”
Tensions between Hegel and ashen Creator Shonda Rhimes continued to soar until March 2010, when they reached an agreement to immediately release her from her contract, making the January 21 episode her final appearance on the show as Dr. Izzie Stevens — until an unexpected surprise appearance in season 16, in an episode marking the exit of Justin Chambers. from the show.
In their panel, Heigl and Pompeo discuss how the overnight success of the show catapulted them into the spotlight, setting the stage for intense feelings on set.
“I think it gave me this confidence, which was like a false sense of confidence,” Heigl recalls. “It was rooted in something that couldn’t last and probably won’t always last for me. So I started talking real mouth to mouth, because I had a lot to say, and there were some boundaries and things that I wasn’t okay with being crossed. I didn’t know how to fight that.”
Pompeo agrees, saying, “Listen, nobody likes an overconfident woman.” “And that’s why they’re denied reproductive rights and voting rights all over this country, because they don’t want women to find their power. They don’t want women to have a voice. And they don’t want women to control because they know we can do it better than they can.”
Heigl admits that, looking back now, she feels she was “very naive” in how she handled the situation.
“There was no part of me imagining a bad reaction,” she admits. “I really felt justified in how I felt about it and where I came from. I’ve spent most of my life — I think most women do — in a people-pleasing mode. It’s really frustrating when you feel like you really piss everyone off. It wasn’t my intention to do that.” But I had a few things to say that I didn’t think I’d get such a strong reaction from.
The actress admits that it took nearly a decade to get a new perspective on the situation.
“It took me until my mid to late 30s to really go back to tuning in to all the noise and going, ‘But who are you? Are you this bad person? Are you ungrateful? Are you unprofessional? are you hard ‘Cause I was so confused! I thought maybe I was,” she shares. “I literally believed that version, felt ashamed for a long time, and then had to go, ‘Wait. Who am I listening to? I don’t even listen to myself. I know who I am.'”
“I was a little bit early, because they came out with this thing where everyone has their own megaphone and they get a blue check. It’s called Twitter,” Pompeo said. “You were just ahead of your time, madam.”
“I was shaking at a really high level of anxiety,” Hegel notes. “For me, it’s all a blur, and it took me years to learn how to deal with that, to master it. I can’t even say I’ve mastered it, but until I know how to work on it, that anxiety and fear — and stress is stress. And if you let stress go for a while Too long, without controlling or treating him, he could be exhausted.”
The actresses talk about how much the landscape of television production and public discourse has changed since their early days on Seattle Grace Scrubs, with Heigl noting that her recent experience in Firefly Laneworking with a new generation of young actors, made her feel “protected in a way I didn’t realize how unprotected we were.”
“That’s one of the things I’m trying to do now as a producer, specifically ashen , Try to provide support — try to have a place for people to talk things through,” Pompeo agrees. There was no one telling me, “This is OK. This is not OK. There is a very exploitative nature to what we do.”
The actresses share a laugh when they admit that life in such bright lights would be tough for anyone to manage — except maybe Zendaya.
“She is an exemplary, wonderful, most generous young woman who has handled an enormous amount of attention and fame with unbelievably fine grace,” Pompeo marvels. “But not everyone can do it. And there has to be some tolerance, or some grace, because not everyone can handle every situation perfectly. I certainly didn’t handle every situation perfectly. I’d like to see others try to walk a mile in your shoes during that period, and let’s see how they can handle it.”
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