Wait, why do we hate her again? 

The public has a trend of putting women on a pedestal and then promptly shoving them off. While men not only get the pedestal, but they get a complimentary margarita served with it. Women in the industry have lost their careers over things their male counterparts get praised for. One day, she’s the upcoming it-girl, the next she’s issuing a public apology trying to salvage her reputation. As I look back at a disgraced woman in Hollywood, I must wonder, was she really that bad or is it misogyny?

 Spoiler alert – it’s always misogyny. 

We all complain about our jobs, it’s our American right. Well, unless you’re Katherine Heigl. Heigl’s star was rising fast after she won an Emmy for her role as Izzie Stevens in “Grey’s Anatomy” in the same year her hit movie “Knocked Up” was released. However, her star crashed just as quickly as it rose. Heigl received public backlash after criticizing “Knocked Up” for its sexist portrayal of women. Then, the final nail in the coffin came when she withdrew her name from Emmy nominations in 2008 for her work in Grey’s Anatomy. The action angered show creator Shonda Rhimes and earned her the reputation for “being difficult”. Heigl has expressed regret and apologized for her past comments, even if she didn’t need to, but her career still hasn’t fully recovered. 

It is a running joke that Robert Pattinson publicly hates “Twilight.” He was often seen in interviews from the height of “Twilight”’s popularity criticizing the characters, the author, and the films themselves. However, his outspoken disapproval of the films never swayed the fans or triggered public outrage. In fact, it made him more likable to the “Twilight” haters. Most recently, Pattinson has played the iconic comic book character Batman and stayed in good graces with the public. 

Katherine Heigl and Robert Pattinson were rude for their comments at the very worst and were just complaining about their jobs at the very best. Hollywood treated the two differently and is a glaring example of how misogyny creates differing narratives for women and men. The public scrutiny ruined Heigl’s career, gave her a reputation for “being difficult” and completely altered how she presented herself. Heigl took back her comments and publicly apologized, but that wasn’t enough. Her fate was sealed, whereas, Pattinson has compilation videos of him ragging on “Twilight” and gets praised for it. 

The difficult woman and the charismatic man: two sides of the same coin with wildly different responses. Women in the industry don’t have the same luxury of speaking their minds or even speaking recklessly because they can be easily replaced with someone who doesn’t. Whereas it seems that men get many chances to be imperfectly human. Their images are easily rehabilitated, and they are welcomed back into our favor with open arms. The industry loves to hate an upcoming woman, and it’s our job not to fall for it.