In a revealing new interview, the former 'Grey's Anatomy' star admits that she 'would rather be dead' because she 'didn't realize how much anxiety [she] was living with.'

• Jan 29, 2021

AceShowbiz - Katherine Heigl makes it clear that she does not appreciate being given negative labels by the public. Having found herself being described as a "difficult" actress to work with, the Izzie Stevens depicter on "Grey's Anatomy" confessed that such criticism has "pissed [her] off."

"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,' " the 42-year-old said in a new interview with The Washington Post. "What is your definition of difficult? Somebody with an opinion that you don't like? Now, I'm 42, and that s**t pisses me off."

The actress, who left the Shonda Rhimes-created show in 2010, drew backlash after she made comments about the projects she worked on. She once complained about working 17-hour a day on the ABC's drama series, in addition to calling her 2007 movie "Knocked Up" a "little sexist". While she apologized for those comments in the past, she insisted that she is now done apologizing.

"At the time, I was just quickly told to shut the f**k up. The more I said I was sorry, the more they wanted it," she stated. "The more terrified and scared I was of doing something wrong, the more I came across like I had really done something horribly wrong."

Katherine went on to spill that the criticism has impacted her career. "You can be the most awful, difficult, horrible person on the planet, but if you're making them money, they're going to keep hiring you," she explained. "I knew that whatever they felt I had done that was so awful, they would overlook it if I made them money - but then my films started to make not quite as much money."

The wife of singer Josh Kelley additionally revealed that the public's opinion ruined her mental health. "I think my family, my mother, my husband, my friends were scared. And I regret deeply that I scared them like that. But I just couldn't control it. I had no tools," she elaborated.

Katherine admitted to seeking treatment for anxiety after giving birth to her son. "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," she noted. "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."