Ellen Pompeo Finally Praises Katherine Heigl as ‘F*cking Ballsy’ and ‘100% Right’ For Condemning Grey’s Anatomy Conditions in 2009
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Grey’s Anatomy’s Ellen Pompeo praised her former co-star Katherine Heigl for condemning the series’ working conditions back in 2009 — a remark that ultimately branded Heigl as “difficult.”
Pompeo welcomed Kate Walsh, another former Grey’s Anatomy star, to her podcast Tell Me this week, in which they discussed the improvement in work schedules and conditions on the set of the show.
“I’m very lucky now with my schedule on Grey’s,” Pompeo said. “I get to cut back and overall, I’m happy for the production as a whole, because we have cut back tremendously. Back in the day, we used to do crazy, crazy hours.”
The host then pointed to comments Heigl made during a 2009 appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman.
“I remember Heigl said something on a talk show about the insane hours we were working and she was 100 percent right,” Pompeo continued. “And had she said that today, she’d be a complete hero.”
Heigl was blunt about the working conditions on Grey’s Anatomy while speaking to David Letterman, calling them “cruel and mean.
“Our first day back was Wednesday and I’m going to keep saying this because I hope it embarrasses them, it was a seventeen-hour workday,” she said.
Heigl was swiftly branded as difficult and hard to work with following the interview, and left the series about a year later.
“Of course, let’s slam a woman and call her ungrateful when the truth is she’s 100 percent honest, and it’s absolutely correct what she said,” Pompeo continued. “And she was fucking ballsy for saying it. And she was telling the truth. She wasn’t lying. Also, when you’re younger, you’re so excited to be there and you’re so happy to be invited to the party that you’re willing to do whatever it is they’re asking you to do.”
Heigl also addressed her remarks and the backlash she faced in a Sept. 2021 Instagram post, writing, “Some of you may remember over ten years ago I was very vocal about the absurdity of the working hours crews and actors were being forced into by production.
“Even Diane Sawyer interviewed me and not so kindly informed me ‘no one feels sorry for you.’ I very publicly and for many, many years after, got my ass kicked for speaking up,” she added.
