Katherine Heigl, Hollywood Feminist

I gotta admit that this woman has guts. Most people who have been hit with the backlash for comments made about women's place in Hollywood would probably keep their mouths, but as her film 27 Dresses is about to open in England, Heigl again goes on the record about the whole Knocked Up is sexist controversy. (By the way, Judd Apatow has count it four films he's produced opening this year.) Here's some of what she said to the Guardian.

Those comments provoked quite a backlash, and Heigl was described as ungrateful and a traitor. Some people even suggested she would never work again. Was she surprised at that? "I was. Maybe it was naive of me," she says. "I think that the reality of starting to become successful is that [some people] want to slate you for something - put you in a box and put a label on what sort of a person you are. I'm not wild, I haven't been to rehab, I don't do anything eccentric - I'm really boring. So that's where they have to go." She stands by her comment, but says the sexism element "didn't lessen my enjoyment of the movie. That's where the comedy lies, between these polar opposites and stereotypes of female-male behaviour. I don't know a lot of guys that act like Ben, but we know that some exist. I don't know a lot of women who act like Alison, but again we know that some women do. Those are the stereotypes, and they're exaggerated. But it seemed to me that she was such a stiff, she had such a stick up her ass. I wish she had been a little more fun."

"I would never want to be malicious or ignorant," she continues, "but I didn't think that comment was any of those things. It was my opinion and I'm allowed to have one. Isn't it the land of the free?"

I'm sure some people are thinking, yes, Katherine you are allowed to have an opinion, just as long as you don't say anything that matters. Clearly, this woman has a rational brain and is not afraid to stand up for herself and others. (She was one of the first to speak up last year during the Grey's Anatomy homophobic incident that got Isiah Washington fired.)

Full story: Katherine Heigl (The Guardian)
(photo credit: Wire Image)