When it comes to weird and wonderful roles, Katherine Heigl has had a pretty good run with “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Knocked Up,” “27 Dresses,” “Killers” and “Life As We Know It.”
However, there is one thing she doesn’t see enough of in terms of female roles in Hollywood: nurturing, non-nasty characters.
“I would like to see more supportive female friendships and less of the kind of catty, uncomfortable, mean-spirited female friendships.You know the ‘frenemy’ thing. I am not a fan of that. I want to see what I have in my own life,” Heigl told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column at the 18th Annual Women in Hollywood Tribute in Beverly Hills last week. “Maybe you don’t have a slew of female friends you can count on, but you’ve got one or two you know are like family and on your side. I want that story, and I want to see that.”
But Heigl isn't complaining. She said that these days, she feels very much on par with her male counterparts.
“It has changed. I started so young that I probably didn’t really have any understanding of what our part was… I just wanted to work. But as I’ve gotten older and branched out into other aspects of the entertainment industry, in terms of producing and optioning books and performing, I am really proud to say this town feels very equal opportunity to me,” she continued. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a woman or a man; it just matters whether or not you have a good idea to make it happen or not.”
Similarly, fashion designer Donna Karan doesn't believe women are mistreated in her similarly cutthroat industry.
“I would just like to see everyone collaborate, and not have to deal with ego of ‘me,’ and work on the 'we,' not the 'me,' and not separate men from women. It is the whole idea of the wo-man,” she explained. “I don’t believe in the struggle of being female. I never separated the male from the female, especially as a designer.”
But not everyone thinks its a level playing field - yet.
“No, I wouldn’t (call it equal opportunity,)” Naomi Watts said. “But we’re getting there.”
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