Heigl abstaining from Grey's awards consideration in 2008 because she “did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination" helped bolster her reputation that she was "difficult." "It was a spate of comments and actions that many decided collectively painted a picture of the worst kind of woman: a difficult one," says the Los Angeles Times' Ashley Spencer in a profile of Heigl. “At the time, I was just quickly told to shut the f*ck up," says Heigl, who admitted the "difficult" label took a toll on her mental health. "The more I said I was sorry, the more they wanted it,” she said. “The more terrified and scared I was of doing something wrong, the more I came across like I had really done something horribly wrong.” Spencer adds: "But as the years have passed and the world has changed, there seems to be a growing realization that maybe, just maybe, the Heigl backlash outweighed the crime. In a post-#MeToo world, in a post-Trump world, is it not laughable that so much grief was given to a woman for speaking her mind?"
TOPICS: Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy