Katherine Heigl has removed her name from Emmy consideration for her role on the ABC drama Grey’s Anatomy. Heigl won an Emmy in Season Three, at a time when they were pulling in 18.7 million viewers each week. This season’s numbers plummeted to 14.4 million and the actress has decided not to have her name appear on the ballot.
The actress is clearly unhappy with her reduced story line in the weekly scripts that have been written for Season 4. Logic would suggest that last years Emmy winner would get a juiced up script to match her proven acting chops. Heigl’s role this year was considerably diminished and she has decided not to hold back in making a statement that is bound to cause the upper echelon at ABC to see red.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, she said:
I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.
Heigl is no stranger to rocking the boat. She got into a tight spot during a Vanity Fair interview last summer when she mentioned that the very successful movie Knocked Up, in which she had a prominent role, was “a little sexist”. After the article hit newsstands, she sent VF a written statement clarifying her earlier remarks. In it she said:
It’s important to me to take a minute and clarify the quote about Knocked Up in Vanity Fair. I was responding to previous reviews about the movie the interviewer brought to my attention. My motive was to encourage other women like myself to not take that element of the movie too seriously and to remember that it’s a broad comedy.
Heigl obviously speaks her mind. It should be interesting to see if there is a Grey’s Anatomy Season 5 in her future or if she’ll move on or be encouraged to move on to greener pastures.
Check out more photos below.