Is Katherine Heigl's reputation really worth $6 million?

I've had a thing for Katherine Heigl since Roswell. She was several years older than me, and her breasts made her look like a genius of some kind--possibly a rocket scientist. Contradictory, when she made it big on Grey's Anatomy, I began to lose interest in her, my teen infatuation abated by both the passage of time and the new hype that surrounded her.

Recently the drugstore chain Duane Reade used Heigl's image in an ad without her consent, and Heigl in turn sued--understandably. This begs the question: Is Katherine Heigl's reputation still worth $6 million? If the drug store had done this above board, would Heigl have received $6 million for her endorsement? No, certainly not in 2013. This suit is to make herself look better, reminding us all of the charity set-up in memory of her late brother and that Katherine Heigl still exists.

She is allegedly terrible to work with. She chain smokes. She was allegedly one of the driving forces to get Isaiah Washington fired from Grey's. On the set of Roswell, she was frequently late, missing her call-time intentionally. Not because of some emergencies but because she respected the production so little that she didn't even care to be on time. (This anecdote is from the interview that she gave in a 2006 FHM interview.) She was actually the biggest star on that WB show, it should be noted--having worked with both Gerard Deperdieu and Steven Seagal in Under Siege 2 (no--that was big)--and so it is easy to imagine why she thought she was gracing the teen sci-fi show with her presence. Her mother has been described as terrible too.

Despite Heigl's pluses--her apparently good marriage, her decision to adopt children, her sobriety. She might be totally loyal to her friends like TR Knight and her family (like many Mormons), she still manages to be seen as a pill. She does not work with actors more than once. Her greatest movie--Knocked Up--was derided by her, and she hasn't worked with Judd Apatow since.

The people you meet climbing the ladder of Hollywood success are the people you see during your downfall, and Heigl has been freefalling. This can be summed-up by one damaging assessment: In a 2013 Forbes article, she was linked to both Adam Sandler and Reese Witherspoon as the most overpaid stars in Hollywood. Hollywood will allow any matter of bitchiness or perversion, as long as the talent is commercial or critically successful.

I think a career-revival is possible, though. Yes, her greatest work has since been voice-acting in the animated The Nut Job--although no one sees a talking squirrel movie for Katherine Heigl; they see it because squirrels are awesome. She'll probably be returning to TV in the fall, although returning to TV can be seen as acknowledging defeat--but the low-point was still probably the Nyquil commercial, so the only place from here is up. (Oddly enough, the world didn't need any more Katherine Heigl movies.) What remains of her career is to be seen.