- On Thursday, Heigl sat down with Sirius XM host Bevy Smith to discuss her time on "Grey's Anatomy."
- Heigl revealed she was at "a level of intensity that was not healthy" before leaving the show.
Katherine Heigl, known for her Emmy-winning role as Izzie Stevens in ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," opened up about her decision to leave the hit hospital drama.
In a conversation with SiriusXM host Bevy Smith on Thursday, Heigl discussed the level of "insanity" that pushed her to leave the show in 2010.
"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," she said.
Though Heigl believes she made the right decision, she wished she had taken more time to think it through.
"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.
According to Heigl, she experienced "heightened anxiety" while working on the show due to the hit show's strenuous working conditions.
"I think with 'Grey's' at that time, I didn't feel I had any other choice [but to leave]," she said. "I was breaking, it was breaking me, and I was young."
Heigl shared that her mental health suffered during her six-season run.
"I mean, I was vibrating at a level that I was gonna get sick and, you know, I did get mentally sick," she revealed.
In 2009, Heigl sat down with David Letterman on "The Late Show with David Letterman" to discuss supposed poor working conditions on the set of "Grey's Anatomy."
"Our first day back was Wednesday. It was — I'm going to keep saying this because I hope it embarrasses them — a 17-hour day, which I think is cruel and mean," she said on the late-night show.
In 2010, Heigl left the show during its sixth season. In 2021, Heigl spoke with The Daily Telegraph to clear up rumors about her controversial exit. "I started a family, and it changed everything. It changed my desire to work full-time," she said last September.
That same month, Heigl spoke out in support of the IATSE strike that saw Hollywood crew members fighting for better working conditions. The actress took to Instagram to voice her support.
"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," Heigl captioned her Instagram post.
On the podcast "Tell Me with Ellen Pompeo" in April, "Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo spoke out in support of Heigl and her accusations against the show.
"I remember Heigl said something on a talk show about the insane hours we were working," Pompeo recalled. "And she was 100% right."
Pompeo announced her exit from the series in November 2022, after a 19-season run. On her podcast, Pompeo assured listeners that Heigl was in the right. "She was fucking ballsy for saying it," Pompeo said. "And she was telling the truth. She wasn't lying."