Thirteen years after saying goodbye to “Grey’s Anatomy”, Katherine Heigl, who played the character of Izzie Stevens for 6 seasons, returned in an interview to her regrets about her departure.
Thirteen years after leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Katherine Heigl, who played Izzie Stevens, reunited with her former co-star, Ellen Pompeo (Meredith) on the show’s variety “Actors on actors”, a series of interviews in which two actors discuss their careers.
This long-awaited reunion by fans was an opportunity for the two actresses to go behind the scenes of the medical series, which is about to blow its twentieth candle. In turn, they indulged in a few confidences.
If Ellen Pompeo said she hated shooting one of the most iconic scenes in Grey’s Anatomy, Katherine Heigl returned to her eventful departure from the series. Remember: in 2010, the interpreter of Izzie Stevens announced his hasty departure from medical fiction after 6 seasons.
She had at the time mentioned family reasons, the actress having just adapted her daughter with her husband. But since this departure, many rumors had suggested that she had been dismissed because of strong tensions with Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey’s Anatomy. Katherine Heigl would have complained about the shooting conditions, and the atmosphere behind the scenes.
She had also strongly criticized the screenwriters of the series, announcing that she refused to be nominated for the Emmy Awards, because she had not, according to her, sufficient material to deliver a good performance.
“I was young…”
Katherine Heigl took advantage of the show to express her regrets about her departure. While the two actresses discuss the subjects covered in the series by Shonda Rhimes and her team, in particular the debates surrounding the right to abortion in the United States, she decides to congratulate Shonda Rhimes for “to have changed the whole discourse of the audiovisual landscape at a time when women didn’t really occupy these kinds of roles, and when there wasn’t as much diversity.”
Katherine Heigl continues by discussing the impact of the series on society. “I was young. I didn’t pay much attention to it. For me, it was just a job, a great job. I was unaware of the impact the series could have.”
In 20 seasons, Shonda Rhimes has often been keen to discuss important issues affecting the lives of American minorities. In 2020, for example, she did not hesitate to talk about the Black Lives Matters movement.
It remains to be seen whether this public apology will allow Katherine Heigl to make her comeback in Grey’s Anatomy. The character of Izzie Stevens being, at the last news, still alive, and Ellen Pompeo being now a producer, viewers may be entitled to a cameo in the coming seasons.