For years, I’ve heard many stories about Katherine Heigl’s diva reputation — coming both from TV and film sets and from a couple of five-star hotel staffs, subjected to unreasonable demands by the actress.
The subject came up in a Facebook Q&A session on Saturday, when a participant asked Heigl about her supposedly “very rude” reputation.
In response, the star of the upcoming “State of Affairs” TV political drama wrote, “Yeah I’ve heard those too … honestly I don’t think I am … nothing makes me more uncomfortable than confrontation or hurting someone’s feelings, and I would never, ever actively do so on purpose. Of course just like any human being, I’ve made mistakes and unwittingly or carelessly spoken or acted but I always try to make any wrong right.”
Heigl didn’t just leave it at that, adding, “That doesn’t mean I won’t stand up for myself by drawing boundaries and asking to be treated kindly and respectfully, but I don’t do that with any rude or unkind intentions, just with the same strength and honesty I think every one of us is entitled to.”
However, when I asked a number of Hollywood folks who have worked with Heigl about her Facebook comments, they all laughed. “Give me a break,” a “Grey’s Anatomy” mainstay told me early Sunday. “She’s a nightmare to work with. It’s all about her, 100 percent of the time. Plus she treats everyone around her like s—.”
That would jibe with what Heigl’s “Grey’s Anatomy” executive producer Shonda Rhimes told the Hollywood Reporter last month. Asked what things are like behind-the-scenes at her hit “Scandal,” Rhimes said everything was fine. “There are no Heigls in this situation,” she zinged.