Katherine Heigl landed the role that made her famous when she was cast as Izzie on the show “Grey’s Anatomy.” Everything seemed to be going well. The show was a success. She even won an Emmy for her role.

At the same time Heigl was acting on Grey’s, she was also staring in hit movies like “Knocked Up” and “27 Dresses.” She was a regular on magazine covers and a huge star.

Then, everything went wrong. Heigl made a mistake that completely backfired on her. She didn’t think it would be a big deal, but she has regretted it ever since.

In 2008, she withdrew her name from Emmy consideration. She explained, “I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.”

Withdrawing her name did not go over well, especially with the show’s creator, Shonda Rhimes. Heigl’s character was eventually written off the show, and even though she was still cast in movies and a couple TV shows, they didn’t have the success her earlier projects had. Rhimes described Heigl as difficult to work with, and Heigl’s career suffered.

Now, Heigl is speaking out about her struggle with being criticized in Hollywood. She told The Washington Post, “I may have said a couple of things you didn’t like, but then that escalated to ‘she’s ungrateful,’ then that escalated to ‘she’s difficult’ and that escalated to ‘she’s unprofessional’… What is your definition of difficult? Somebody with an opinion that you don’t like? Now, I’m 42, and that s— pisses me off.”

Heigl’s “27 Dresses” co-star, James Marsden, supports Heigl as an actress saying “She has very strong convictions and strong opinions on certain things, and she doesn’t back down from you know if she feels like she’s been wrong in any way. I’ve always seen that as just strength of character.”

Heigl says that her family was worried about her because she was struggling with her mental health. She says that going to therapy and taking Zoloft have helped her a lot. “I asked my mom and my husband to find me somewhere to go that could help me because I felt like I would rather be dead. I didn’t realize how much anxiety I was living with until I got so bad that I had to really seek help. You can do a lot of inner soul work, but I’m a big fan of Zoloft.”

The actress has also apologized to Rhimes for her behavior. Watch the video below for more details.

Do you think Rhimes was right to criticize Heigl’s behavior? Do you think Heigl was right to withdraw from consideration for an Emmy?