Katherine Heigl Knocked Up comments clarified in Howard Stern interview

Back in 2008, Katherine Heigl told Vanity Fair that Knocked Up — a Judd Apatow comedy she starred in — is “a little sexist.” But in a new interview with Howard Stern, Heigl clarifies that she wasn’t calling the movie itself sexist, but rather the way she chose to portray the character.

“She was so judgmental and kind of uptight and controlling and all these things,” Heigl says. “Judd allows everyone to be very free and improvise, and afterwards, I was like, why is that where I went with this? What an a–hole she is!”

In the original 2008 interview, Heigel said the movie “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—-; why is she being such a killjoy? Why is this how you’re portraying women?”

Now, Heigl says the Vanity Fair reporter — who she calls “really, really lovely” — asked her to weigh in on whether or not the movie is sexist. “I felt obligated to answer that and so I tried, in my very sort of ungracious way, to answer why I felt that it maybe was a little,” Heigl says. “If you read the whole quote, I’m just saying that can be the nature of broad comedy. They’re exaggerating stereotypes, that’s what makes it funny. But they just took the sexist thing out.”

Heigl hasn’t worked with Apatow or Knocked Up costar Seth Rogen again since, and told Stern that she never personally apologized to them. “I’ve thought about writing a note. I feel embarrassed,” she says. “I don’t want to feel insincere on any level.” By the end of the conversation though, Stern talks Heigl into calling them up this week to finally clear the air. Listen to the whole clip below.