Katherine Heigl spoke out about her former on-screen love interest getting married and finding “true love” during the second 14 finale of Grey’s Anatomy.
The actress, who played the role of Izzie Stevens during the first six seasons of the long-running ABC medical drama, opened up about how she felt about Alex Karev (Justin Chambers) marrying Jo Wilson during the latest episode.
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“Oh my God!” Heigl said surprised as TVLine let her know of the happy news, before adding, “Well, that’s exciting. Alex needed to find love — true love.”
Izzie and Alex were once a core couple on the series, with the pair tying the knot in a surprise wedding as Izzie fought cancer during season 5. Fans of the series were shocked and heartbroken when in season 6, Heigl was fired during the hospital merger and decided to leave town in disgrace. Her character was only seen for two more episodes before Heigl was written off the show.
Since then, Alex Karev was paired off with several characters before meeting Jo (Camilla Luddington) in season 9. The pair went through the good and the bad until they finally married in a ceremony officiated by Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) while wedding guests were on a ferry boat.
Heigl, who was quick to give the newlywed characters her blessing, admitted Izzie might not be as enthusiastic about the pairing.
“I don’t know [how Izzie would react],” the actress said. “I’d have to start wondering where Izzie is. Like, what is she doing? Where did she go? I would hope that she pursued her [medical] career.”
“She could have children by now,” Heigl continued. “She could be married… If she has moved on, then I would expect Izzie to be very happy for him. She would want him to be happy.”
If Izzie was still single, it would be another story.
“She’d be jealous [of Jo] for sure, right?” Heigl said, before adding with a laugh, “She’d want him to hold out for her.”
Behind-the-scenes drama led to Heigl being written off the drama series that gave her a Primetime Emmy for her role of Izzie Stevens. At the end of the fourth season, Heigl chose to remove her name from consideration for the prestigious award after she felt writers had not given her character enough material to deserve a nomination.
At the end of the fifth season, following an intense season for Izzie, Heigl’s fate was left in the balance as a cliffhanger made it seem as if Izzie was going to die. However, Izzie pushed through and beat her disease at the beginning of season 6.
During season 14, Jo asked Alex if he would ever be interested in reaching out to his ex, to which he admitted he imagines she left the hospital and lives a happy life, with Christmas decorations constantly in display at her house. He also told his then-fiancee that reaching out to Izzie would ruin that fantasy.
Grey’s Anatomy will return for its fifteenth season in fall 2018 on ABC. As for Heigl, she recently joined the cast of USA Network’s Suits as a series regular for its eighth season.
