Thaindian News

March 25, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): For a long while now, audiences have suspected that Katherine Heigl is leaving Grey’s Anatomy. The actress has officially confirmed the news herself. With Heigl’s official announcement, one of television’s longest-running dramas has come to an end.

Heigl states that she is done and that the agreement has been finalized. The entire team has been working hard to find an agreeable and genial way of slowly letting go and moving on. She admits that while it is sad, it’s what she wanted.

Her reasons for quitting the show seem to be family issues. Though the 31-year-old actress has an escalating film career, she approached series creator Shonda Rhimes to ask her to let her out of the contract 18 months early. Heigl states that starting a family changed everything for her. She took a three-month leave from Grey’s Anatomy to spend some time with her newly-adopted daughter Naleigh. She reveals that it was instrumental in changing her desire to work full-time.

Even though she was supposed to be a part of the final five episodes of this season, she won’t be doing that anymore. That makes the January 21st episode her last appearance on the show as Dr. Izzie. She admits that she’s aware of disappointing fans but she had to make a choice. She hopes the choice she made is the right one. This marks the end of the road for the star on the series, which opened many gateways and catapulted her as a Hollywood actress, landing her roles in movies like 27 Dresses and Knocked Up.

In a recent interview, Heigl has also spoken about her rocky six-year tenure, which includes the fights, the feuds, the controversies and all the mistakes she’s made so far.