Katherine Heigl Talks "Grey's"

Beautiful star Katherine Heigl of 27 Dresses and Knocked Up fame met with us in Beverly Hills last week to talk about her new rom-com with super gorgeous Gerard Butler, The Ugly Truth. While chatting, we got some tidbits on her feelings about "Grey's Anatomy" where her character Izzie has been deathly ill. First we noted that the usually blonde bombshell Katie is now a brunette!

TeenTelevision: Did you change the hair for work or for fun?

Katherine: For fun. Because, on the show, I don't have hair so now I can do whatever I want.

TeenTelevision: Good point. With Izzie being so well known on 'Grey's Anatomy', do you look for characters that are totally unlike her, or do you see your character Abby in The Ugly Truth as a cousin or a sexier, R-rated version?

Katherine: For Izzie, absolutely, a cousin. I definitely want to go out and explore different personalities and different people. But, at the end of the day, I feel like, on television, it's really hard to divorce me completely from the role. It's nine months a year, it's every day, sometimes it's 80-hour weeks. The way I walk, talk and gesture is going to slip in there. I can't completely remove that. Something of me is always going to surface. They're not Izzie, but I like the distant cousin analogy. I think it's always going to be a little like that. That's why I colored my hair. That will fool everybody (she rolls her eyes).

TeenTelevision: Yeah, oh sure. What's it like to be back on 'Grey's'?

Katherine: I'm actually really mad at them right now because they worked me on Wednesday for 17 hours, and I thought that was mean. I think we should all boycott 'Grey's Anatomy'.

TeenTelevision: Somebody will take that seriously, you know.

Katherine: Oh, s**t! I was joking! It's exciting to be back because I've missed my friends, and it is really fun to see everybody. It's such a strange thing. It's been two months, but it doesn't feel like any time has passed at all because you're right back in the same set, with same wardrobe and the same people. It feels like maybe you haven't seen each other just for the weekend, aside from Ellen Pompeo's growing (pregnant) belly. The last time I saw her, it was just a tiny bump and now she's got a basketball, and it's weird.

TeenTelevision: What else has changed?

Katherine: Other than that, nothing has changed and it's wonderful, except for the absence of T.R. Knight. That was really actually very strange and really hard, because T.R. provided so much fun, joy and levity for me and everyone else. We had to do a scene about (his character) George's death and Justin Chambers kept saying, 'I just keep imagining T.R. on Broadway (in 'Lend Me a Tenor') while we're mourning the character's death.' Then we all sort of went, 'Yeah, that's hilarious. No, that's really sad. He would be laughing really hard now too, and he's not here to laugh with us.' So, it's a little strange, in that regard, but other than that, it's good to be back with my friends and my family.