Katherine Heigl has been having a hard time with the media for the past couple years.
Media woes for the Life As We Know It star began back in 2008 when she refused to submit her name for the Emmys.
Heigl expressed that she didn’t feel her material on Grey’s Anatomy “warranted” such a prestigious honor. Although the decision was based solely on her personal opinion, it sent the media into a frenzy.
That incident, in addition to a few other awkward moments, have led to the 35-year-old actress being labeled a “b—.”
However, she refuses to conform or be silenced. During a recent interview with E! News, she also admitted the labels don’t bother her at all.
“Call me any name you want but I’m going to continue to stand up for myself and I’m going to continue to be heard and voice what I feel and not be bullied into being a doormat, just so you’ll call me a sweetheart,” Heigl said. “I don’t want to teach my kids that.”
She wants to set a positive example for her daughters, Naleigh and Adalaide. The 27 Dresses star doesn’t want her girls to “feel like they don’t have a voice or that having a voice makes them a [expletive].”
“I spent time trying to be more of a publicity packaged thing, and I just couldn’t. I couldn’t sleep at night. It kept me up,” she admitted.
“It felt so dishonest to me and it felt like such a cop out, like me saying that I am inherently wrong about how I feel about things or I am inherently wrong if I have something to say,” she said. “I don’t like that for my daughters. I don’t like that for my girlfriends. I don’t like that for any woman in this world to be made to feel like that.”
However, she also made it clear that she refuses to be a victim. “It’s not always possible if the people in charge say no because the people in charge do say no,” she explained. “But that’s my approach at this point, to not let it make me a victim of society or sexism. It’s up to me to bully my way through it.”
Katherine Heigl makes her return to primetime television on Nov. 17 when the new series, State of Affairs, premieres on NBC!