Katherine Heigl was on a roll in 2007. Just months after starring in Knocked Up, the Grey’s Anatomy alum earned an Emmy Award. Her meteoric rise was cut short, however, when she openly mocked two of her most well-known parts.

In a new interview with Howard Stern for his SiriusXM radio show on Wednesday, April 20, Katherine Heigl talked out about her past drama on Grey’s Anatomy, including her controversial withdrawal from the 2008 Emmys.

“In an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention,” she told the Los Angeles Times at the time. “In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.”

As fans may know, Heigl and the show’s creators, notably producer Shonda Rhimes, became enraged over the situation.

The Howard Stern Show

Heigl expressed remorse for how she handled herself on Wednesday.

Heigl admitted, “I wasn’t feeling good about my work that season. And what you have to do as an actor if you want to get nominated is you have to submit your work … and that year I said, ‘I’m not going to submit; I can’t find anything I feel good about. . . . I didn’t feel good about my performance . . . and there was a part of me that thought, because I had won the year before, that I needed juicy, dramatic, emotional material.’”

Heigl claimed she apologized to Rhimes after the comments were widely reported in the media.

Heigl remembers the encounter, “I went in because I was really embarrassed. So I went in to [see] Shonda and said, ‘I’m so sorry. That wasn’t cool, and I should not have said that.’ And I shouldn’t have said anything publicly. But at the time, I didn’t think anyone would notice. . . . I just quietly didn’t submit and then it became a story, and I felt I was obligated to make my statement, and [I should have just said], ‘Shut up, Katie.’”

CREDIT: JEROD HARRIS/GETTY IMAGES

In a 2008 Vanity Fair cover story, Heigl expressed her dissatisfaction with how she described her performance in the hit comedy “Knocked Up” directed by Judd Apatow and co-starring Seth Rogen. She called the picture “a little sexist” at the time, saying it “paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight.”

At the time, Heigl stated of Knocked Up, “It was a little sexist. It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys. It exaggerated the characters, and I had a hard time with it, on some days. I’m playing such a b***h; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women?” The actress added, “Ninety-eight percent of the time it was an amazing experience, but it was hard for me to love the movie .”

It should be recalled that just months prior, Knocked Up had received an outstanding 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes while grossing $219.1 million at the box office. Given the film’s unquestionable success, Heigl’s forthright remarks triggered an outpouring of criticism from fans and colleagues alike, who felt she was being ungrateful.