Katherine Heigl has a bit of regret over leaving Grey’s Anatomy in 2010.
After playing Dr. Izzie Stevens for almost six seasons of the popular medical drama, the actor quit the show following a couple of behind-the-scenes controversies. In 2008, Heigl opted out of Emmys consideration before publically describing Grey’s Anatomy’s long hours as “cruel and mean” during a 2009 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman.
In a new interview with Sirius XM’s Bevy Smith, Heigl says she wishes she had “taken a breath” before making the decision to leave the hit series. “I look back at it and sometimes I go, ‘God, I wish I had just calmed down a moment. Taken a breath, thought it through, had some conversations about this possibility. What about this possibility? How about if I do, you know, just this many episodes a season?” she said, adding, “Like, if I could have found a way to work within it, that could have also worked for me. But I only saw it as this one thing: I was up here at a level of intensity that was not healthy for me. And I just kind of fled in a panic.”
Ultimately, she said the working conditions were making her “mentally sick,” which is similar to recent statements by former costar Sandra Oh. “I think with Grey’s at that time, I didn’t feel I had any other choice [but to leave],” Heigl told Smith. “I was breaking, it was breaking me, and I was young.” She continued, “I hadn’t garnered enough experience and wisdom yet to get myself through it with less heightened anxiety. I was vibrating at a level that I was gonna get sick and I did get mentally sick.”
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