“I’ve been told I’m too forthright with opinions. Well do they want a fierce woman or milquetoast? Should I be me, or should I pretend to be something I think people want? Pretending seems pretty ridiculous to me. I didn’t think that what I was was so bad that I needed to hide it.”
– Katherine Heigl getting real.
If you read the interview, it’s pretty clear that the writer is on Katherine’s side. He says that she’s “warm and genuine in person,” and he brushes off all those instances of diva attitude, claiming that Katherine “unwittingly created her image problem by being honest in interviews.” Well, ok. I mean, it’s obviously not like I know the woman, and I don’t really have strong feelings about her at all (except for when I go through my biannual Johnny Knoxville obsession and watch The Ringer a couple of times a week for a month, then I halfway care about her), but I think that when the people you work with feel the need to make public statements about how unprofessional and undeserving you are, then maybe there’s a problem.
By the way, and I can’t cite this or anything so you’re just going to have to trust me, but if you listen to the commentary of The Ringer with Johnny Knoxville, the director, the screenwriter, a producer, and a couple other actors (not including Katherine Heigl), there’s this bit where they’re talking about how awesome she was. They’re all “Katie! Katie Heigl! Love her!” and then Johnny Knoxville’s like “yeah, she was great before she got all -” and the director cuts him off with a quiet “hey, let’s not do that,” and then Johnny does this pointed little “SO ANYWAY” move. Suspicious, right?
The point is, Katherine, there’s a comfortable space between being completely passive and a raving bitch, and if a good number of the people you’ve worked with think you’re leaning towards the latter, then maybe it’s time to check yourself.