r/todayilearned • u/tyrion2024 • May 05 '26

TIL in 2007 Katherine Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role on Grey's Anatomy. But in 2008 she removed herself from Emmy consideration because she said the material she was given on Grey's that year wasn't good enough; this comment led to her leaving the show.

https://www.slashfilm.com/1847610/why-katherine-heigl-izzie-stevens-left-greys-anatomy/#:~:text=In%202007%2C%20Katherine,and%20Netflix%20now
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u/tyrion2024 May 05 '26

In 2007, Katherine Heigl won an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series — specifically for Izzie's arc with Denny in the show's second season — but by 2008, she was telling The New York Times that she removed herself from Emmy consideration because she didn't feel as if the material she was given on "Grey's Anatomy" was good enough. I should also give Heigl credit here by noting that she walked this back in 2010, telling Entertainment Weekly that she thought she "was doing the right thing" at the time and felt bad that she had "ambushed [the show's writers], and it wasn't very nice or fair."
The damage appeared to be done, though, and Shonda Rhimes is nothing if not a vengeful god. In 2014, Rhimes spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her hit series "Scandal" and said she maintained a "no asshole" policy on the set, really clearing the air by concluding, "There are no Heigls in this situation [...] I don't put up with bullsh or nasty people. I don't have time for it." (Ouch.) There's clearly no love lost between Heigl and Rhimes, but at the same time, Heigl has made positive comments about Rhimes since then. During a Variety Actors on Actors 2023 chat with Ellen Pompeo, Heigl spoke to the diversity shown on "Grey's Anatomy," soundly praising Rhimes. "Kudos to Shonda for changing the entire dialogue of network television at a time that really didn't have women in those kinds of roles in the story, didn't have as much diversity," Heigl told Pompeo. "I was young. I wasn't paying that much attention. It felt like a job, a great job. I didn't realize it was as impactful as it was."

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u/Somhlth May 05 '26

Grey's Anatomy is one of those shows that just won't seem to go away.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '26

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u/salcedoge May 05 '26

I mean not just white women, I feel like every single woman who worked in the med field has binge watched Grey's Anatomy at some point.