Katherine Heigl has hit back at the backlash she received for attending a three-day fundraising event at US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Heigl, whose last public appearance was at the 2024 Emmys for a special Grey’s Anatomy reunion, was at the fundraiser hosted by Wine, Women & Shoes. The event raised $5.5m for Big Dog Ranch Rescue, America’s largest no-kill shelter.
It was co-chaired by Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump. Also at the event were popular TV dog trainer Cesar Millan and US attorney and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
The 27 Dresses star has not shared her political leanings, telling USA Today in 2014 that she was “terrible at politics”.
Heigl has defended her presence at the Mar-a-Lago event, insisting she was there because of her interest in animal rights.
“Animals don't vote. The only room they don't like is the euthanasia room at a shelter. They are completely at the mercy of us, and they have no voice of their own,” she told Page Six.
“This event was about animal advocacy — something that has always been deeply personal to me,” she added. “Anyone who knows me knows that protecting animals is one of my greatest passions.”
The Independent has contacted Heigl’s representatives for comment.
Heigl has also been replying to comments questioning her attendance at the event on an Instagram post of entertainment news outlet Just Jared.
“Have you donated a significant part of your income to anything? Anything you claim to care so much about? Have you done anything more than comment on what someone else is doing or not doing to your standard?” she asked one Instagram user.
She asked another: “Do you think comments on an Instagram post matter to animals who have had humans pour gasoline on them and set them on fire? Who have had humans vote conservative or liberal but have been left to starve and suffer?”
Responding to a person who brought up her Grey’s Anatomy character getting cheated on, Heigl wrote: “Making a dumb joke when animals in this country are suffering and I’m doing everything and anything I can to stop their suffering? Let me ask…do you do anything that really matters?”
Heigl told USA Today’s Palm Beach Post at the event that she was there for Big Dog, a non-profit whose work to “solve the pet overpopulation issue” aligned with her family’s animal welfare and advocacy group Jason Heigl Foundation.
The Ugly Truth star has been involved in animal advocacy for years and has largely stepped away from the spotlight to focus on her family and animal activism. In 2008, the actor and her mother, Nancy Heigl, founded the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, a non-profit focused on rescuing shelter animals, funding veterinary care and supporting spay-and-neuter programmes aimed at reducing pet overpopulation.
The foundation, established in memory of Heigl’s late brother, works with rescue groups and shelters to move animals from high-kill facilities into permanent homes and raise awareness about animal cruelty.
It has been three years since Heigl last starred on screen, appearing as news producer Tully Hart in the final season of Netflix’s friendship drama Firefly Lane in 2023.
She is best known for her breakout role as Dr Izzie Stevens in Grey’s Anatomy from 2005 to 2010.
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