Josh Duhamel Defends Katherine Heigl Against Her 'Bad Rap': 'She's Awesome'

Josh Duhamel is praising Katherine Heigl and defending her against her "bad rap."

While a guest on a recent episode of the Chicks in the Office Podcast, Duhamel was asked about the actresses he's played opposite throughout his career and which one he's had the most chemistry with, even if they weren't the best kisser.

Deciding not to answer, Duhamel, 50, said, "I love all the girls I've worked with."

He later saluted Heigl. The two starred in 2010's Life As We Know It and 2011's New Year's Eve.

"Katie Heigl gets a bad rap but she's awesome," said Duhamel. "She's great."

He added, "She probably said some things that she wishes she could've taken back. But my experience... my on or off screen [experience] with her was awesome."

After beginning her career as a child model, Heigl, 44, became a household name after starring in Grey's Anatomy, which premiered in 2005.

The year after her 2007 Emmy win for her role as Dr. Izzie Stevens when she withdrew her name from contention for a repeat award, saying she "did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant" a nomination. That incident, compounded with several other comments and complaints Heigl had previously voiced, earned the star the dreaded label of "difficult."

"I know there's a better way to deal with those things than I did," she told PEOPLE in February 2021. "I could have handled it with more grace."

Heigl left Grey's Anatomy in 2010, a decision she said she doesn't "actually regret."

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"I did the right thing for me and for my family — but I do regret the heightened drama I was feeling at that time," she told PEOPLE.

"If I'd known anything about meditation then, or had been talking to a therapist or someone to help me through some of the fear that I was steeped in, I think I would have been more calm in how I approached what boundaries I needed to create to thrive."

Heigl continued: "I certainly regret not learning earlier how to manage my anxiety better. Living at that heightened level of anxiety... created a defensiveness in me and wariness and assuming that people were against me. I let my mind run rampant without the tools to properly manage that."

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She has since done the work and currently stars in Netflix's Firefly Lane. She told PEOPLE that she has fond memories of her time at what was then known as Seattle Grace Hospital, and she says she'd "never say never" to returning to the ABC medical drama.

"When I look back on Grey's Anatomy, so much of it was a really extraordinary experience," she said. "It feels like a dream sometimes, all of us in it together like that. I'm grateful for all of it — and I'm so grateful that I grew up enough to allow it to teach me something."