Katherine Heigl recounts awkward run-in with Seth Rogen after she called Knocked Up 'sexist'

The actress says her reputation of being difficult to work with led to her going to therapy

Katherine Heigl (Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Katherine Heigl has admitted she regrets making a number of critical comments about projects she has worked on in public.

Heigl featured in the hugely popular film Knocked Up in 2007 alongside Seth Rogen. The Judd Apatow-produced comedy about an unplanned pregnancy following a regrettable one night stand accelerated the Grey's Anatomy actress to stardom, however, the relationship between her co-stars was one that quickly soured.

Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2008, Heigl said of the film: “It was a little sexist. It paints the women as shrews, as humourless and uptight and it paints the men as loveable, goofy, fun-loving guys […] it was hard for me to love the movie.”

Discussing the comments on Howard Stern’s radio show on Wednesday, Heigl said she regretted what she called an “immature, dumbass moment” and considered apologising to Apatow and Rogen but never got round to it.

“I thought about writing a note,” she explained. “I feel embarrassed, I don’t want it to feel insincere on any level.”

Heigl said she’d love to join forces with Rogen again but she doubts the feeling is mutual, revealing an awkward run-in between the pair at a restaurant around six years ago.

“I ran into him at a restaurant and I didn’t know it was as serious as it was […] I was like oh you’re really mad, I didn’t realise it was that bad,” Heigl said.

Rogen and Apatow have also spoken about the row with Stern, appearing on his show in 2009. The director said being as though they had a great time filming and she improvised much of her character, the comments took him by surprise. Interestingly, Rogen also said he ran into Heigl at a restaurant but ended up being very nice to her despite his feelings towards her.

Heigl also spoke of her regret of publicly discussing why she chose not to submit her work on Grey’s Anatomy for an Emmy in 2008, a year after she won the accolade. At the time, Heigl told the press she felt unworthy of being included in the ballot because she wasn’t “given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination”. The 37-year-old said she immediately apologised to producer Shonda Rhimes at the time but wishes she had “shut up” as rumours of a rift soon became a big story, especially when Heigl departed the show a couple of years later.

Heigl said this reputation of being difficult to work with landed her in therapy. “I started going because of the scrutiny,” she said. “I was not handling it well. I was feeling completely like the biggest piece of sh*t on the bottom of your shoe.”