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Katherine Heigl has seen her fair share of drama related to ABC's beloved medical soap, Grey's Anatomy, because of arguments with the writing team that led to her character exiting the show. But the 27 Dresses star, 46, is apparently able to laugh at the drama now, as she proved in a new commercial for Poise liners where she referenced her time as Dr. Izzie Stephens.
In the 1-minute advertisement, Heigl is out to lunch with a friend and her son, when she makes her friend laugh so hard that she admits, "I peed." When her son expresses disgust, Heigl tells him that the "giggle dribble," or lack of bladder control, is "kinda [his] fault."
Heigl goes on to explain, "You see, when we have kids, the pelvic floor or the muscles and ligaments that help support the bladder can weaken." She goes into even more detail about how different bodily functions, like menopause or perimenopause, can also lead to a leaking bladder. When her friend asks how the blonde bombshell knows so much medical information, Heigl quips, "Well, I used to be a doctor," with a knowing look at the camera.
Heigl's exit from Grey's came about after she withdrew herself from Emmy consideration after season four of the beloved series.
"I was kind of trying to make a bit of a snarky point about my material that year, but I was also just not feeling my material. I didn't think I had anything that warranted even the consideration for a nomination. I just wasn't proud of my work," she explained to Howard Stern in 2016.
This decision led her character to be written off the show and earned her a reputation for being "difficult." This commercial's nod to her past as a "doctor" is, in some ways, the closest she's come to reprising her role of Dr. Stevens.
Heigl spoke candidly to People about her decision to star in a commercial about the issue of perimenopause and bladder control, which some women may find uncomfortable to talk about. The mom of three sought to remove the stigma around bladder leakage. (Heigl and her husband, Josh Kelley, share adopted daughters Naleigh, 15, and Adalaide, 12, as well as son biological son Joshua, 7.)
"When I talk with my friends, we all laugh about it," she told the outlet. "I am not okay with anybody out there feeling any kind of shame or embarrassment around this because it is such a natural progression of female existence." Her goal in doing the commercial, she explained, was for women to "not take it too seriously and to be able to laugh about it. [...] I will happily get loud about this if it will help other women feel comfortable," the Firefly Lane star declared.
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