Contrary to what she may have said about overindulging in her love of making rom-coms, Katherine Heigl has not cut them out of her life. She happily talked up two of her most iconic at the NBC summer TCA press tour party Sunday night. One in a gaggle of reporters surrounding the actress asked if she kept in touch with her My Father the Hero co-star Gérard Depardieu. Heigl squealed. “Depardieu! I just watched that movie two weeks ago with my 13-year-old niece. It was eerie, okay?†she laughed. “It was weird, but it was kind of awesome because she got to see her Auntie Katie at 14. It was kind of a tragedy for me. I, like, peaked when I was 14.†A moment later, when another reporter asked about her 27 Dresses co-star James Marsden, she said he was “literally spit-my-food-out kind of funny†and even suggested teaming up again. “We need to do a sequel to that!†she said.
Heigl appeared to be in especially good spirits following a tense press conference earlier in the day, during which reporters grilled the actress about her Hollywood reputation for being difficult. She spoke fondly of the memories and friendships she made on Grey’s Anatomy (“If I only could lure Jeffrey Dean to [State of Affairs] …â€) and elaborated on what’s she’s learned now that she’s older. “I’m feeling more of a sense of peace,†she said. “I definitely get — I’m a neurotic actor, I’m not going to lie. I’m absolutely a neurotic actor. We all kind of are. But I’m less atwitter. I’m less defensive. I’m less afraid of what everybody thinks about me. I can still get my feelings hurt, and I certainly feel frustrated because I want prove I’m something, or prove to people I’m more than they think, but I don’t get quite as aflutter about it as I did in my youth. I have a deeper understanding of what really matters and who really matters and whose opinion really matters.â€