Katherine Heigl has done a few things over the course of her career that led us to believe she’s, you know, obnoxious. In December of 2007, she was interviewed for an article in Vanity Fair and criticized Knocked Up (the movie that essentially launched her) for depicting women to be “shrews” and “humorless and uptight” while portraying men as “lovable, goofy and fun-loving.” And then in June of 2008, she issued a press release saying she decided not to submit her performances on Grey’s Anatomy for an Emmy that year because she didn’t feel like the writers gave her good material. But now, Heigl is on the cover of the January issue of Elle magazine and explaining that even though she’s not going to stop proving to us that she’s an obnoxious person, she still wants us to like her and respect her and just understand that’s how she is.
On wanting to get in our good graces again, Heigl acknowledged we’re essentially right for thinking she’s a bitch, but that she’s going to win us over in the future and there’s nothing we can do about it. She said, “I think it’s a female thing. I’m just that a-hole who really wants everyone to like me and it’s a ridiculous goal and it’s an impossible goal. But I think if I keep pushing forward and showing myself through and through, they will see me again for what I really am and what has been sort of spun about me.” She also commented on the time her publicist fired her, and said “I’ve never really been America’s sweetheart, but for a minute I think that’s what they wanted me to be. And I had ‘em for a second thinking maybe I was. And then I opened my mouth and it was clear I wasn’t. There’s so much of my mother’s caustic, sarcastic, irreverent take on things. But I also love and embrace it. I look at some of what I had to say, and I’m like, Oh my God, I would tell myself to shut up too.”
So how is Heigl reforming herself into someone we might consider sharing our pretzel-flavored Goldfish with? She’s actually taking various approaches. One is that she’s taking some pills from Whole Foods she says make her happy. She clarifies it is a “stress-relief formula,” and is partially against pharmaceuticals because her mother is. Heigl also now views interviews as just different acting roles (which is a tactic her old publicist came up with), which allows her to come across as more personable instead of grumpy and cynical and completely horrible. And she’s still smoking her electronic cigarettes so even if she does morph into a nice person one day, at least we’ll always have Paris.
