Katherine Heigl and Ellen Pompeo Reflect on ‘Mouthy’ Grey’s Anatomy Comments That Led to ‘Difficult’ Label! Perez Hilton

It’s the reunion we’ve all been waiting for!

Gray’s Anatomy alum Katherine Heigl sit down Elena Pompeo in Variety‘s latest Actors on Actors series, due out Tuesday, to catch up on their careers and the drama that saw Katherine labeled “difficult” and “unprofessional” in Hollywood.

As you may recall, the actress was blasted after criticizing her own film whipped up in 2007. At the time, she said it was “a bit sexist” and that women in the film were “humourless and edgy”. She further complained about the 17-hour day she had to work Grays before withdrawing her name Emmy consideration in 2008 because she didn’t think she “got the material to warrant an Emmy nomination this season.”

Last year, Ellen broke her silence and finally supported her co-star in an episode of her podcast Tell me with Ellen Pompeo, noting that they were working “crazy hours” and if Katherine had “said that today, she’d be a complete hero.” But her support came too late. In 2010, Katherine had had enough and quit the medical drama after playing the first six seasons as OG character Izzie Stevens.

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Now, as we all know, Ellen ran the show until this season, when she decided to step back as Meredith Gray – though she says she’ll still appear in a much smaller capacity next season! This is the first time in years that the women have sat together to get their full histories – and the talk didn’t disappoint!

The Firefly Lane star reflected on her controversial past and said:

“I was so naive. I got on my soap box and I had some stuff to say, and I felt really passionate about this stuff. I felt very strong. I felt so strong that I also got a megaphone on my soapbox. There was no part of me that imagined a bad reaction. I felt really justified in how I felt about it and where I came from.

She continued:

“It took me a minute to really stop being a victim because of the reaction I got and tune out all that noise.”

The 27 Dresses alum continued:

“I’ve spent most of my life — I think most women do — in that mode of satisfying people. It’s really upsetting when you feel like you’ve made everyone really dissatisfied. I didn’t mean to, but I had some things to say and I didn’t think I’d get such a strong reaction. I was in my late twenties.”

It wasn’t until she was in her “mid to late thirties” that Katherine was able to “really cut out all the noise again” and ask herself:

“But who are you? Are you this bad person? Are you ungrateful? Are you unprofessional? Are you difficult? Because I was confused! I thought maybe I was. I literally believed that version, and felt so long so embarrassed, and then had to go, ‘Wait. Who am I listening to? I’m not even listening to myself. I know who I am.’”

Ellen then joked that her former co-star was “a little early” because she could have had her “own megaphone” if she had just waited until Twitter came out. Where! Everyone complains about everything these days!

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The TV star then suggested that one of the reasons Katherine got so excited was that “nobody likes a super confident woman”, citing why “they’re taking reproductive rights and voting rights all over this country is because they don’t have women want to find their strength.” She elaborated:

They don’t want women to have a voice. They don’t want women in control because they know we can do it better than them.”

Katherine replied:

“I think for me I just felt like 40 was freedom because I didn’t have to be the young, sweet, naive, people-friendly ingénue anymore. I had outgrown it.”

Ellen then teased:

“I don’t know about the ‘sweet’ part. I wouldn’t describe you as sweet. And people had a problem with that. Love, they can handle it.”

Ha! The 53-year-old also pointed out that the Life as we know it lead grew up as a child actor, meaning she “grew up on sets, being told what to do, where to go, what to say, what to feel, what to think, what to eat, when to eat, when to sleep.” ” The Roswell alum had an interesting take on this, noting:

“It made life easier. But then you get older and they expect you to make some choices for yourself. Than Grays hit, and success happened. I think that gave me this confidence that was a false sense of confidence. It was rooted in something that couldn’t and might not always last for me. So that’s when I started to get really vocal, because I had a lot to say, and there were certain boundaries and things that I wasn’t okay with being crossed. I didn’t know how to fight that.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Ellen talked about the iconic “pick me, pick me, love me” scene she filmed Patrick Dempsey (AKA Dr. Derek Shepherd) in season two when she tries to convince him to choose her over Addison Montgomery. When asked if there is a line of dialogue that people quote her all the time, Ellen recalled:

“So okay, this is a real thing. My daughter and her friends, they sit around and they say, ‘Oh, she’s a pick me girl.’

Katherine was shocked and said:

“Oh my God! Is that what that means?”

Ellen continued:

“Yeah. I’m like, ‘What’s a pick me girl?’ They were like, ‘You know, girls who say, ‘Pick me, pick me!’ And I’m like, ‘Hello?! Do you know who invented the ‘pick me girl’?’”

She then discovered some secrets behind the scenes and shared:

“Listen, I don’t know if you remember me fighting that speech so hard. That’s another really interesting thing about life – some of the things I was so against, and I thought, ‘I can’t beg a man on TV! This is so embarrassing.’ And then it turns out to be one of the most famous scenes ever.”

Wow!!

We can’t imagine Grays without that scene!!

It’s really so nice to hear that the ladies think back so positively despite all the drama. Hear the rest of their conversation (below)!