I think I have mentioned here that I lived in Los Angeles for 5 years. 5 nutty, weird years in La-la land- 4 of them getting a bachelor’s degree, and one more trying to figure out what to do with it. That was the year, if you might recall, that I worked for the Beverly Hills erectile dysfunction specialist on the Viagra clinical trials, fielding phone calls from beleaguered geriatric Golden Age actors who simply HAD to be on the little blue pill trial.
I learned many things in LA.
1. Yes, that many people really do get plastic surgery.
2. Looks are everything.
3. Substance is nothing.
Needless to say, I didn’t live there any longer than I needed to. Sure, there were some normal, real people somewhere in the town, I just didn’t meet very many of them. I left very jaded about the Hollywood scene and the quiet desperation and over inflated egos of the lost souls who populate it.
Like many people, I’ve spent many a Thursday night watching Grey’s Anatomy, shipping Mer-Der, icking out at Lexie/Sloan, shaking my fist at LVAD-gate. I’ve always considered Katherine Heigl to be an OK actress whose ego outstripped her talent, who never really recovered from insulting the show’s writers come Emmy time a few years ago.
Then she quit the show. I didn’t miss her. See ya later. Have fun in the deep black abyss of David Caruso-land. It’s not that I dislike her, it’s just that she didn’t do anything to impress me as either an actress or a human being.
Today, though, she won my heart. I’ve heard mention here and there about the Heigl Foundation and the work it is doing to help animals. That alone wins her a pass for The Ugly Truth. Then I read about England.
Some piece of human garbage hog-tied a pit bull and left him for dead in a muddy field in Bakersfield, where he was fortunately rescued and rehabilitated. When announcing England the Dog’s new home today, Heigl also announced that her foundation will be working in conjunction with Last Chance for Animals to provide additional rewards for people who come forward with information in animal abuse cases.
This isn’t as cute and Hollywood as the other well-publicized efforts of the Heigl Foundation. Rescuing a terribly abused pit bull isn’t nearly as sexy and photo-oppy as flying a plane of chihuahuas cross country. But it is necessary, and so, so helpful. What incentive is there these days for people to report animal abuse, aside from conscience? Not much, and oh, how the world needs more people to step up and get involved.
Heigl also recently adopted a daughter with her husband, which she cited as a major reason for leaving her hit show. Having a new child is a ton of work- I can vouch for this- and it would be very easy for her to disappear into the world of nannies and playgroups and let the foundation run itself for a year or two.
But she’s staying involved and using her celebrity to help some really underserved causes, and for that, well, she has a permanent fan. Staying the course and staying true to what matters in that weird morass of celebrity is pretty hard to do. Thank you Katherine, for continuing to do things that matter (and I’m not talking about Knocked Up.)
Interesting. I never gave her much thought except she seemed to me to be vain and ungrateful, and I was kinda glad when she left Grey’s. Thanks for giving me a different perspective!
Coming from a non-GA fan, a huge non-fan of Heigel and her ego, she did actually redeem herself in my eyes a little when I read about England a couple days ago. I hope she keeps it up. Because although many of us try to do what we can to help animals, a lot of us don’t have the celebrity money or exposure.
Like most Hollywood gossip, I figured the quotes were taken out of context or blown out of proportion (Hollywood taking itslef too seriously). Apatow movies do paint women in a certain light, just as they paint men in a certain light. She kind of had a point there. Of course the flight of chihuahuas endeared me to her. This kind of follows my thinking of her, that she does what she can do to work in Hollywood but she also does what she feels is right. It may go against what PR tell her to do but oh well.
Of course I’m biased to like her since my parents (without knowing who “Katie” was until I cleared it up) sat across from her parents on a flight and apparently both our moms were chatterboxes. 😉
A friend of mine who works in the film industry used to deal with her regularly and I hate to say it but her diva like behaviour wasn’t misreported. She actually made my friend cry a couple of times so for that reason alone, I don’t like her (that would apply to any human being who upset my friend!) However, I admire her efforts with animal rescue. Every little bit helps 🙂
Katherine is about as far from a diva as you can get. She is very nice and down to earth. I think she gets a bad rap from the press for being too honest for her own good sometimes. As for Grey’s Anatomy – I happened to think she was the best thing on the show. Each to their own I guess.
Have you met her? That pulls more weight than the media for sure.
I agree that her actions show a person of great character, which is why I dedicated an entire blog post to saying that my perception based on what is out there may have been wrong. 🙂 Dog lovers are the best.
Hmmm. I’m not up on my celeb gossip (tsk! ;)) so I didn’t realize she is a diva… but I will say YEAH to her for sharing her star shine with a worthy and important cause.
I think it’s hard to just neatly classify someone as either Good or Bad depending on a handful of character traits. I am inclined to believe that she is an egotisical diva, but *also* a person genuinely passionate about animals and helping them.
Everyone comes in a shade of grey, you know? It’s not impossible to strongly dislike her attitude towards other people but strongly love her attitude towards animals. 🙂
This is only marginally related to this post, but you should check out the song Los Angeles I’m Yours by the Decemberists. It’s a funny, silly, over-the-top song full of flowery lyrics and it’s basically just a vicious evisceration of LA cloaked in hyperbole and poetry and sarcasm. It’s genius. Any song that’s one long rant but still manages to incorporate the lyric “a dozen blushing cherubs wheel above” is awesome. And I’ve always kinda wished I’d lived in LA even for a little bit, so I could fully appreciate it.
Katie Heigl aside, I think LA is getting a bad rap!
we have an organisation here in NZ called Paw Justice that does a similar thing – offers rewards for information on animal cruelty cases, helps fund prosecutions, and goes to court etcetc.They are also lobbying the government for a change in animal welfare law. We have had some bad animal cruelty of late here and Paw Justice are making a difference in apprehending the people involved. Have a look if you’re interested! http://www.pawjustice.co.nz