Grey's Anatomy Star Reveals Why She Doesn't Watch the Show After Abrupt Exit

Grey's Anatomy, the longest-running medical drama, has seen many cast changes. Among them, the departure of Katherine Heigl, who played fan-favorite character Izzie Stevens, had a significant impact on viewers.

Heigl left the show in its sixth season as her big screen acting career began to flourish.

Many speculated that she chose the more lucrative movie roles over the show, but the actress later revealed that she did so to spend more time with her newly adopted child.

Heigl has also been open about the toxic working conditions on the show, revealing that they tend to work almost all day, which she considered just brutal.

In addition, Katherine turned down a 2008 Emmy Award nomination, stating that she didn't feel she was given winning material that season, which led to her falling out with the producers.

The actress also admitted that she stopped watching the show after she left because it upset her too much:

"It was too hard. I just felt like I was missing the party. Like […] when you were sick and you can't attend the party that you were super-stoked about and everybody else gets to attend it, that's a little bit how I feel."

While there was a lot of drama surrounding Heigl's departure, she has no regrets about leaving Grey's Anatomy. However, if there's one thing she does regret, it's the way it all ended.

The actress shared that looking back, she realized that she made her decision without thinking about the consequences because her only priority at the time was to get out of that environment.

Heigl's character, Izzie, was supposed to die in the final episode of season five. According to plot, Izzie had been sick all season with terminal cancer and her heart stopped.

After the season ended, ABC polls concluded that killing off two of their most popular characters at once (George O'Malley was also killed off at the end of season five) could have a disastrous effect on the ratings. Therefore, Katherine Heigl was persuaded to "live."

At the beginning of the 6th season, Izzie Stevens turned out to be alive: the doctors managed to "start" the heart, and later, to everyone's joy, it turned out that the remission of the disease had begun.

Katherine Heigl left the show anyway, and her character Izzie Stevens, after the funeral of her best friend George, left the hospital.

Currently, Grey's Anatomy is its 19th season, with the next episode set to premiere on ABC on May 18.

Source: Entertainment Weekly