Katherine Heigl Says She Could Have Handled ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Exit ‘With More Grace’

By Corey Atad. Published: 3 Feb 2021 2:52 PM

Katherine Heigl in "Grey's Anatomy. Photo: Michael Desmond / © ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection/CP Images

Katherine Heigl has a few regrets.

In a new interview with People, the “Firefly Lane” star addresses her contentious exit from “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2010.

“I don’t think you get through life without any regrets,” Heigl tells the magazine, “but you can create some purpose from it.”

The actress’s departure from the show had come after she withdrew her name from contention for an Emmy on the grounds that she “did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant” a nomination.

Looking back, Heigl admits, “I know there’s a better way to deal with those things than I did. I could have handled it with more grace.”

That said, the 42-year-old reiterates, “I don’t actually regret leaving ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ — I did the right thing for me and for my family — but I do regret the heightened drama I was feeling at that time. If I’d known anything about meditation then, or had been talking to a therapist or someone to help me through some of the fear that I was steeped in, I think I would have been more calm in how I approached what boundaries I needed to create to thrive.”

In retrospect, Heigl recognizes that there were better ways to approach her situation on the show.

“I certainly regret not learning earlier how to manage my anxiety better,” she explains. “Living at that heightened level of anxiety … created a defensiveness in me and wariness and assuming that people were against me. I let my mind run rampant without the tools to properly manage that.

“The last five years has been really about learning how to manage that anxiety and to control my own thoughts,” she says. “I learned that not managing stress leads to not dealing with negativity or frustration or disappointment in the proper way.

“Something else that experience taught me is that no matter how big an opportunity or how rewarding something is, there will be moments of struggle. There will be difficulties and disappointment and miscommunications but you must learn how to manage those with grace instead of fear.”