Katherine Heigl: The Girl of Summer
On the exterior, Katherine Heigl looks like a perfectly manicured poolside goddess. She's tan, she's fit, she's beautiful, she's blonde - and will you check out that engagement rock on her finger?
But don't be fooled. This 28-year-old actress knows how to get down and dirty. Glamour sat down with the star on the eve of her movie breakthrough to talk about her fearless ride to the top.
GLAMOUR: Now you're starring in Knocked Up with Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, as a woman who gets pregnant after a one-night stand. What was it like to work with those funny guys?
Katherine Heigl: Oh, it was the best experience. I constantly had to be on my toes, because some of the scenes were improvised and the stuff they came up with was so outrageous. In one scene, I got into a fight with [Rogen] about the way my body was changing. He said something like, "Don't worry, we'll pay for vaginal reconstruction." That's what came out of his mouth, unscripted!
GLAMOUR: Was it weird to feel pregnant?
Katherine Heigl: No, because the prosthetic belly felt so fake. Plus, my character in Knocked Up was a super-in-shape reporter, so I had to lose 10 pounds for the role. When I do get pregnant, I highly doubt I'll be one of those women who don't look pregnant from behind â" I'll look pregnant from the ankles up!
GLAMOUR: Was it hard to lose weight for a role?
Katherine Heigl: It was awful! I remember once reading an article about Jessica Alba â" the most beautiful, most in-shape person alive â" and how committed she was to her regimen. And I thought, There's no way in hell that will ever be me. I can't eat only fish and vegetables or work out seven days a week. Then suddenly I was that person and I was shocked. But I could never maintain it. I like food too much!
GLAMOUR: You seem to have a very healthy attitude toward your body. Do you own a scale?
Katherine Heigl: No, because it can make you kind of crazy. I used to weigh myself every day at a certain time of day. Then I would write down the number and measure my body fat. It wasn't a healthy way to live. Now I can tell if I've gained or lost weight just by the way my clothes are fitting. But it's tempting to buy a scale, because I'd love to know what I weigh. Whatever. I just lie and say 120. [Laughs]
GLAMOUR: How do you ignore all the messages in Hollywood to stay rail-thin?
Katherine Heigl: When I see some of the people who are glorified in magazines these days â" who are so thin it's bordering on sickness â" I just feel exhausted. I would hate to think that young girls in high schools across America think that's what they're supposed to look like.
GLAMOUR: Who do you think has a healthy-looking body?
Katherine Heigl: Jennifer Aniston and Halle Berry are both in amazing shape. They look phenomenal but they don't look sick. Then there's Kate Winslet. She's confident, beautiful, talented and sexy and she owns it. Early in my career, I read an interview she gave about how the industry wanted her to lose weight; she basically gave them the finger and said no. I remember thinking, I can do that too. I don't have to look like one of these genetically superior people in order to work.
GLAMOUR: Your fiancé is Josh Kelley. The two of you met when you starred in the video for his song, "Only You." How quickly did you know he was the one for you?
Katherine Heigl: We definitely had chemistry at first sight. In the beginning, I was a little intimidated because I thought I was more into him than he was into me. But I was tired of games, tired of playing it cool, tired of trying to remain in control of my relationships. So I was honest about how I felt, he was honest right back, and within a month and a half I was completely in love with this guy.
GLAMOUR: Do you ever have to deal with groupies?
Katherine Heigl: Yes, and I don't particularly like it. About a year ago I called him on his tour bus and heard giggling voices in the background. After that I said, "No more girls on the bus." If the boys in the band want to meet girls they can go to a local bar.
GLAMOUR: Don't the other guys in the band ever say, "Hey, we want to have girls on the bus â" what's the problem?"
Katherine Heigl: [Laughs.] They'll get over it.
GLAMOUR: What do you and Josh tend to fight about?
Katherine Heigl: Stupid stuff. I'll call him on tour and say, "When should I expect you?" And he'll say, "I'll check that out." Two days before he's supposed to arrive I'll say, "Do you know yet?" And he'll say, "No, I haven't gotten that e-mail yet." And I'm like, "Oh my God â" figure it out!" But what's wonderful about our relationship is that when it comes to the bigger things, like values, we see very eye-to-eye.
GLAMOUR: Let's talk about your childhood. You were raised Mormon; do you still practice the religion?
Katherine Heigl: Not to the extent I did growing up â" I'm having a glass of white wine right now; that's not exactly being a good Mormon! But I am really supportive of the Mormon church and so profoundly grateful for the childhood I had. It's hard work to grow and change and be honest with yourself about your mistakes, and I think the Mormons handle that beautifully. The faith I grew up with has influenced every decision I've made in my life â" well, except for the bad ones! [Laughs]
GLAMOUR: So would you raise your kids in the religion?
Katherine Heigl: I haven't decided yet. I've always thought I would raise them Mormon because I had such a wonderful childhood. In today's world you look around and the decisions 14-year-olds are making about sex just horrify me: I wasn't thinking about any of that as a kid. So I'd like to give my children the same sense of security and ease.
GLAMOUR: But your childhood wasn't all rosy: When you were seven, your teenage brother, Jason, was killed in a car accident. How does that still affect you today?
Katherine Heigl: I think about what our lives would be like now if he were still alive: what he'd be doing, where he'd be living, whether I'd see him often, whether he'd have kids. These are the things you think about when someone dies â" all the potential that never was. It stays with you forever.
GLAMOUR: Your parents donated his organs and you're a spokeswoman for organ donation.
Katherine Heigl: I'm sure it's the last thing my parents were thinking about when my brother was on life support, but my mother [Nancy Heigl] stated it beautifully at the time. She said, "If I can spare another mother what I'm going through, then [donating his organs] is the most important thing I can do in Jason's memory." It's phenomenal when you meet someone whose life was saved because someone made that choice.
NOTE: [For more information on how to become an organ donor, please visit shareyourlife.org]
GLAMOUR: Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
Katherine Heigl: I hope to have children and the sort of family traditions where we eat together every night. But my career is also super important to me. I don't think I could ever be a stay-at-home mom. So I'll have to find a way to combine the two in a healthy and productive way. Joshua will be an amazing father, so I won't have to do it alone. Most importantly, I don't want life to spin by so fast I can't hold onto it, or remember it, or enjoy it. Because I'm loving life right now.
GLAMOUR: So you've had a pretty crazy year at Grey's Anatomy. What prompted you to chastise Isaiah Washington?
Katherine Heigl: At the time, I was a girl whose best friend had been hurt. I was mad, I'd had a glass or two of champagne, and an interviewer asked me about it. Later, when I watched it on the news, I thought, I'm totally going to get in trouble for this. I knew I wasn't playing the political game â" the network wants us to promote a healthy, happy environment, and I'm usually all for that â" but that particular incident really infuriated me, and I couldn't hold my tongue. I think it's pathetic there's still so much bigotry in 2007, and I would speak out again if the situation arose.
GLAMOUR: How did people react to your statement?
Katherine Heigl: There was so much encouragement, so much gratitude. The man who designed my engagement ring, Ryan, and his partner, Ken, wrote me a letter thanking me for standing up for them. And when I read that letter I realized the issue was larger than what happened to T.R. Knight, and I started to understand how very alone so many people have felt.
GLAMOUR: Isaiah Washington basically received a slap on the wrist; he went to rehab for a month. Do you feel he should have been treated more harshly, like Don Imus was?
Katherine Heigl: People make mistakes â" they say things they shouldn't have or didn't necessarily mean. But I believe in consequences. If there are none, someone might feel like they've gotten away with something, or that what they said couldn't have been that bad. Those female basketball players needed the community and this country's support more than Don Imus did. The same goes for my feelings about T.R. Knight.
June 6th, 2007 7:31 PM
I am not a fan of KH...even after this interview, I'm still not a fan...she is a prevaricator. She only says things that are convenient in order to make herself look good. She is very good a self promotion and this article illustrates that.
If she is really truly honest about pro choice on sexual orientation, then she would have lobbied the producers of Knocked Up to remove the word "fxxxxt" from her film because she had issues about the word. I guess it is ok to use the "fxxxxt" now because it is her film and it is doing well in the box office.
HYPOCRITE of the first order.
June 6th, 2007 7:48 PM
welllllll, she DID say in an interview whe they asked about the use of the word in the moive that she wasn't trying to act all high and mighty about it and she didn't agree with the use of the word
"USA Today: I couldn't help noticing that Knocked Up has a line of dialogue that twice includes versions of the word Washington used.
Katherine Heigl: Yeah. We shot that before (the Grey's Anatomy drama). Personally, I think it is language that needs to become obsolete. I hate to be righteous about it. I would prefer not to (use it)."
June 6th, 2007 7:58 PM
CONVENIENT. I read that too. HYPOCRITE still comes to mind in BRIGHT NEON LIGHTS.
Many months after the fact, the movie doesn't come out until June, she has time to lobby the producers...can we say back tracking? Knowing those lines are in her movie and soon to come out. Going after her co-worker for the use of the words! Can you say SELECTIVE THINKING SELF PROMOTER.
SELF RIGHTEOUS HYPOCRITE!
I think the bleach she uses in her locks have seeped into her brain. Her excuses have no credibility.
June 6th, 2007 8:11 PM
I for one and infuriate about what "Esther" wrote regarding Katherine H. I don't think she was being a hypocrite at all!! She was merely trying to protect her friend. No i don't think it's right to use such degrading words and neither does she, but the use of the word in the movie was in fact in a movie. Also, she stated that the scene was shot long before the incident on the set of Grey's Anatomy ever took place. However, even if she did ask the writer to change the word, if they refused, what exactly do you propose she should have done about it? Leave the film? Honestly, let's put this into perspective!!
June 6th, 2007 8:32 PM
Re: Comments by Pissed...Infuriated - that is your right. Putting things into perspective...ARE YOU KIDDING?
KH lambasted a co-worker for using the "f-word" on national TV...who is she to say that IW "should not be saying anything in public right now..." for using the "f-word"! Then in an interview, she laughs off the fact that she is associated with a movie that uses the "f-word" and the ONLY reason she doesn't say anything about it is because it is doing well in the BOX OFFICE!!! HYPOCRITE HYPOCRITE HYPOCRITE!!! For the love of money and self promotion.
You get it into perspective! The whole country was up in arms because she led the public lynching of IW. She could have taken the quiet road like Sandra Oh, Patrick Dempsey, James Pickens Jr., Kate Walsh, Ellen Pompeo...should I go on, instead she uses the excuse of furious, protecting a friend and alcohol...how CONVENIENT.
PLEASE!!! Get pissed off because she doesn't deserve your fanship, she's a fake self serving media W***E.
June 6th, 2007 9:44 PM
She said nothing hypocritical or conivent. She didn't justify why Knocked Up used the word, and she would want the word "obsolete". Do you know anything about the hollywood industry? For an actor to change a piece of dialogue in a movie, or to ask something to be edit..that means an actor/actress would need control. It wasn't her movie, but Judd Apatows. That is something out of her hands. She isn't part of the Hollywood Elite like Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and etc. that are able to change things in scripts. Only she can do is voice against, and wish it wasn't used in the film. It was out of her hands.
As Pissed said. You seriously need some perspective, or maybe some time away from the computer.
June 6th, 2007 10:28 PM
Esther you seriously need to the Advocate too because there is a great snippnet by Heigl herself that said what she did at the Golden Globe incident she would do it again in a heartbeat. She isn't making excuses for her behavior, in fact, she is stating why she think it wasn't a courageous deed. She was pissed, fed up with the cowardly lying being done by people, and the liquor helped loosen her up(which many speculated it was). She's not backpeddling from this. She is saying what I did wasn't great, but I she would do it again in a heart beat. That hey Isaiah did make a thoughtless mistake, but I want him back on the show too.
She is doing nothing convient. She has been consistent, and honestly you have no idea if she lobbied the producers. Someone is making assumptions out of person they don't know and speculating things they know nothing about, and you know what assumptions make a person into.
June 6th, 2007 10:40 PM
Re: Comments from Wow...you are entitled to your opinion. But you need not make this personal.
I personally do not need a chill pill...are her physical attributes blinding your ability to see that less than 6 months ago, she used another human being's mistake and to her advantage in a media maelstorm, which mind you she helped fan with her aggressive stance and words with an Access Hollywood interview.
She should not be saying anything in public right now...she is sounding like an idiot. I state my opinions based upon the words that came out of her mouth at media ops, I do not base my opinions on hearsay.
It is convenient that the movie Knocked Up was finished filming sometime in August of 2006...the line in the movie using the "f-word" was already in it. October 2006 happened...she rode the media wagon...she was on Ellen the next day and all she could have said was "no comment wasn't there". January 2007 GG - on the media wagon again...makes a statement with Access Hollywod. The word did not cease to be a derogatory term in its use in August, in October and in January...all of a sudden it has less of an impact in June when Knocked Up opens and she is doing her press junket for the movie...then she laughs it off and makes up some dumb excuse...she's furious, she had a little too much alcohol...she was protecting her friend...BACK TRACKING...hoping that we would all be stupid enough not to see her big oooops - my bad..."I'm not being self righteous about saying the word...its a bad word"...that wasn't her story in January.
How can you not see HYPOCRITE, it isn't even disguised.
A wise person will reserve judgement and can make their opinions known effectively. A person with an agenda will will advertise with a bullhorn while riding on a van with digital satellite feed saying...LOOK AT ME! That is the difference between actors like Sandra Oh (classy) and Katherine Heigl (crassy).
It will not matter what anyone says...I will think this always...IW works directly with Sandra Oh...Sandra Oh is a Gay Advocate...she out of all the cast members was most directly affected by IW's blunder...you never heard a peep from her. Not even a no comment. You do not see Sandra Oh trumpet how good she is or what she thinks, she lets her abilities and her work speak for itself.
This is why I have a strong opinion on why I am not a KH fan.
June 6th, 2007 10:49 PM
Re: Comment from Well...
Advocate for whom KH...please read my post above.
Advocate for Sexual Orientation, Women, Minority, Special Needs? How do you know I'm not? Because I have a strong opinion about KH's stupid behaviours?
I am not an Advocate of self promotion. As Sandra Oh says...you can get caught up in Hollywood and drink the Kool Aid...and KH did just that.
June 6th, 2007 11:05 PM
I'm not taking this personal, but then I'm not yelling at people on the computer am I lol. Nor do not make assumptions of me about my liking of Katherine Heigl due to her looks. Not only is that insulting to me, but also of her. You should be ashamed of yourself. That is uncalled for.
No doubt I am a Heigl fan, but you are out of line period in this matter. The moment you do personal attacks is the moment you lose a debate because you result in below the belt measures. Nor is she sounding like an idiot. She has not backpeddling from her decisions, and she admits to making bad decisions as well.
Why should a person withheld from saying what they feel? If you are a person like Sandra Oh(nothing against her), and you feel you don't need to be voice your opinion on a matter than so be it. Though some would say she and some castmembers are to afraid to say what they feel because they don't want to create waves. However, if you are a person like Katherine Heigl who voices her opinion, then so beat it. Either way is fine to me, and I respect both women.
I don't find it convient at all because the things she has been saying the past two weeks I have been hearing since her Feburary interviews in New York City. Those interviews were taken by local news stations. This is the first time where she said the same exact things in a bigger market. She has been consistent. On Ellen she was given the company line. She wasn't there to do damage control for the incident since she was on set that day. They used her and Kate Walsh for damage control. They were given the company line, and show "la la we are a happy set", and we know that was rubbish. And the Ellen interview was about Patrick and Isaiah, not Isaiah and T.R. lol. The recent Ellen interview was about T.R./Isaiah, and she articulated herself well. No one should be called names that are hurtful. I read everything and she isn't being a hypocrite. Have you seen the freakin' movie? In the movie Knocked Up another character says that name, and it makes the character look poorly. The said character who says the word even apologizes for her behavior. So the word in the movie isn't seen as joke. It's shown as a downward sprial of own of the characters. Heigl in the USA Today said she would want that word to be gone period from the English language.
I'm sorry I'm not seeing what you are seeing. What I am seeing is hatred once again from someone who has a lot of it. For someone to assume things of me, and others around them. I'll say this much if you are such a fan of Sandra Oh, then IMO you are showing bad taste on how you communicate with people. To spend your day bashing a celebrity and others around you who share a different opinion than you. If you say your a Sandra Oh fan, then great then why don't you follow her example of "no comment".