Katherine Heigl sets the record straight on ‘turning down’ Grey’s Anatomy Emmy nomination in 2008: ‘I wasn’t trying to be a d***!’

Katherine Heigl recently responded to the persistent rumor that she turned down an Emmy nomination for her role on Grey’s Anatomy in 2008.

The actress, who won an Emmy in 2007 for playing Izzie Stevens on the hit medical drama, cleared the air during her recent appearance in Shannen Doherty’s Let’s be clear podcasting.

“I don’t know anyone but you who turns down an Emmy nomination,” Doherty said, to which Heigl interjected: “Well, I don’t, and everyone keeps saying that. I didn’t turn it down.”

“You have to submit yourself,” she continued. “You have to submit your work and then they deliberate and then they decide if they want to nominate you. I just didn’t submit my work that year.”

“I would take that nomination if it came my way. I would suffer for it. But I just knew that there was nothing that year that would really warrant one, and I tried to be honest, I guess. I tried to have some integrity. I tried not to be an ad**k.”

The actress, who won an Emmy in 2007 for her role as Izzie Stevens on the hit medical drama, cleared the air during her recent appearance on Shannen Doherty’s Let’s Be Clear podcast

The news that Heigl was withdrawing from the Emmy race caused controversy, especially since she had won the award for Best Supporting Actress the year before.

In a 2008 statement, Heigl explained, “I felt I did not have the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in order to preserve the integrity of the academy organization, I have withdrawn my name.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything,” the star told Doherty on the podcast. “I should have said, ‘Oh, I forgot [to submit my work]“Because it created such a maelstrom that was so unnecessary, and it was.”

“I tried to make a little sarcastic point about my material that year, but I just wasn’t feeling my material. I didn’t think I had anything that was even worthy of consideration for a nomination. I just wasn’t proud of my work.”

She continued: “I would never be so brazen or arrogant as to turn down a nomination.”

Last year, she spoke out about being labeled “difficult” in the wake of the controversy, including during an interview with Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo for Variety Actors on Actors segment.

Heigl left in 2010 after rumors of on-set conflict and a reputation as “difficult” to work with.

Heigl said on the way out, “I was so naive. I got up on my soapbox and I had something to say, and I felt really passionate about this stuff.”

“I don’t know anybody but you who would turn down an Emmy nomination,” Doherty said, to which Heigl chimed in, “Well, I wouldn’t, and everyone keeps saying that. I didn’t turn it down”; (2007 photo)

“I just knew that there was nothing that year that would really warrant one, and I tried to be honorable, I guess. I tried to have some integrity. I tried not to be a dick.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have said, ‘Oh, I forgot [to submit my work]”because it created such a maelstrom that was so unnecessary, and it really was”

News of Heigl’s decision to withdraw from the Emmy competition sparked controversy, especially since she had won the award for Best Supporting Actress the year before

She continued, “I felt really strong. I felt so strong that I even put a megaphone on my soapbox. There was no part of me that imagined a bad reaction.

“I felt really justified in how I felt about it and where I was coming from. I’ve spent most of my life — I think most women do — in that people-pleasing mode.

“It’s really upsetting when you feel like you’ve really let everyone down. That wasn’t my intention, but I had something to say and I didn’t expect to get such a strong reaction.

‘I was in my late 20s. It wasn’t until about my mid- to late 30s that I was able to really tune out all the noise and think, “Who are you? Are you a bad person? Are you ungrateful? Are you unprofessional? Are you a nuisance?”

Because I was confused! I thought maybe that was me. I literally believed that version, and I felt ashamed for so long, and then I had to say, “Wait. Who am I listening to? I don’t even listen to myself. I know who I am.”

Katherine also described how the ‘confidence’ she gained from her role in the hit series led to her becoming ‘bold’.

“Then Grey’s hit and the success came. I think that gave me this confidence that was a false sense of confidence. It was rooted in something that couldn’t and maybe wouldn’t last forever for me.

‘That’s when I started getting really brazen, because I had a lot of say and there were certain boundaries and things that I wasn’t okay with. I didn’t know how to fight against that.’

In January, Katherine reunited with her former Grey’s Anatomy co-star Ellen Pompeo and the cast of the hit series at the 2024 Emmys, 14 years after she left the series (pictured: Chandra Wilson, Justin Chambers, Pompeo, Heigl and James Pickens Jr.)

After a decade-long absence, Heigl made her return to the Emmys in January.

She reunited with her former Grey’s Anatomy co-stars, including Pompeo, Justin Chambers, James Pickens Jr. and Chandra Wilson.

The reunited cast had the audience in raptures as they announced the nominees for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Anthology Film.

In addition to their hosting roles, they celebrated the important legacy of Grey’s Anatomy, which has just begun its historic 20th season.