LOS ANGELES, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Katherine Heigl has often defended herself from those who claim she is rude and difficult to work with, and in a new interview about her upcoming show State of Affairs she explained why she thinks it's important to have a voice.
The 35-year-old actress has been a target for critics for not introducing her name for Emmy consideration in 2008 because she thought the Grey's Anatomy material she was working with did not merit an award and for claiming Knocked Up, the Judd Apatow film she starred in, was "a little sexist," but Heigl plans to "continue to stand up" for herself.
"Call me any name you want but I'm going to continue to stand up for myself and I'm going to continue to be heard and voice what I feel and not be bullied into being a doormat, just so you'll call me a sweetheart," the actress told E! News. "I don't want to teach my kids that."
Heigil, who has two young daughters, Naleigh and Adalaide, went on to say she doesn't want them to "feel like they don't have a voice or that having a voice makes them a [expletive]."
I spent time trying to be more of a publicity packaged thing, and I just couldn't. I couldn't sleep at night. It kept me up. It felt so dishonest to me and it felt like such a cop out, like me saying that I am inherently wrong about how I feel about things or I am inherently wrong if I have something to say," she said. "I don't like that for my daughters. I don't like that for my girlfriends. I don't like that for any woman in this world to be made to feel like that.
But in the end, the actress doesn't "want to be a victim, either"
"It's not always possible if the people in charge say no because the people in charge do say no," she explained. "But that's my approach at this point, to not let it make me a victim of society or sexism. It's up to me to bully my way through it."
Heigil's new show State of Affairs will premiere on NBC on Nov. 17.
