Grey’s Anatomy stars Ellen Pempeo and Katherine Heigl have reunited for the first time since Katherine left the hugely popular medical show back in 2010. The pair will be chatting candidly to one another for Actors on Actors, and a new clip from the show reveal the pair discussing how women are cast into ‘victim’ or villain’ roles in life.
The sneak peek of the conversation could be related to Katherine’s exit from the drama, where she was asked to be written out following a fall out with the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes.
At the time in 2008, Katherine - who played Izzie Stevens on the show - withdrew herself from being nominated for an Emmy Award, despite winning for Best Supporting Actress the previous year, saying that she "did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination".
Shonda discussed the incident during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, explaining: "On some level, it stung and on some level, I was not surprised. When people show you who they are, believe them.”
Despite tension between the show’s creator and the Knocked Up star, Ellen and Katherine appeared to remain on good terms, and appeared to be pleased to be chatting to one another on the upcoming show, which will be air on 15 June. In the clip, Ellen tells Katherine: “There are two roles women fit into, victim or villain,” to which Katherine replies: “Yeah.”
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Ellen, who left Grey’s Anatomy in February, previously defended Katherine’s comments about tough working conditions on the show. Discussing Katherine’s 2009 interview with David Letterman, where she complained about 17-hour work days on the show’s set, Ellen said: “I remember Heigl said something on a talk show about the insane hours we were working and she was 100% right. Had she said that today, she'd be a complete hero.
“But she's ahead of her time, made a statement about our crazy hours and of course, let's slam a woman and call her ungrateful. And she was [expletive] ballsy for saying it. And she was telling the truth. She wasn't lying.”
In 2021, Katherine opened up about comments regarding her attitude on set, telling Washington Post: "I may have said a couple of things you didn’t like, but then that escalated to ‘she’s ungrateful,’ then that escalated to ‘she’s difficult,’ and that escalated to ‘she’s unprofessional.’ What is your definition of difficult? Somebody with an opinion that you don’t like? Now, I’m 42, and that [expletive] pisses me off."
The actress went on to star in Netflix’s hit show Firefly Lane as well as Suits, State of Affairs and Doubt.
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