Damage Control! Katherine Heigl's Co-Star Patrick Wilson Insists She's 'A Great Person To Work With' After Blistering Expose Calls Her 'Desperately Difficult'
Sept. 17 2013, Published 6:45 a.m. ET
At least one person in Hollywood doesn't hate Katherine Heigl. After industry insiders slammed the former Grey's Anatomy star as "desperately difficult" and "not worth it" in a blistering Hollywood Reporter expose, Heigl's co-star Patrick Wilson has stepped up to insist she's not all bad.
"I have to defend her because she couldn't have been a better experience," Wilson, who appears in the upcoming film North of Hell with Heigl, told HuffPost Live.
"We all have reputations, whether they're true or not," he admitted, insisting that Heigl was the picture of professionalism during their shoot.
"She was not only not all of those things mentioned in the article … 'Oh she was late and never came out of the trailer,' nothing," he says. "She showed up, worked her tail off, super funny, super gracious, great to the cast, great to the crew, and was a total pro. Someone that's been doing it forever. You walk away and go, well that's a great actress and a great person to work with."
Heigl had been accused of making outrageous diva demands in the piece. She's also been slammed for criticizing her first big film, Knocked Up, as sexist, and pulling herself out of Emmy consideration for Grey's because, she said, the writing wasn't good enough.
But could she have learned her lesson? In a recent statement about her upcoming NBC show, which features Heigl as a CIA liaison to the president, she went out of her way to praise her collaborators, and her writer in particular.
"I am thrilled and honored to have been asked to be a part of developing these stories and this character and bringing it all to life," she wrote on her website a few days before the HR hit piece was released. "NBC has been a true partner in their passion and support for the show that we've dreamed of making and I could not be happier about joining forces with them. Together, with our brilliant writer Alexi Hawley, I believe we are going to make great television!"
She also gave a Twitter shootout to Hawley on September 9, alerting followers to "Our brilliant writer -> @AlexiHawley." (Hawley is currently a writer for FOX's series The Following with Kevin Bacon.)
Did Katherine change her ways? Or has she simply gotten a bad rap? Let us know in the comments!