Izzie sure had a rough time of it on "Grey's Anatomy" -- particularly in the episodes leading up to the exit of Katherine Heigl, who played her on the series for nearly five years and who last appeared on the show in Jan. 2010.
But along the way, much has changed for Heigl, and lately she's wanted to give ol' Izzy a new start.
"I keep coming up with stories for (Izzie)," Heigl told TODAY's Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford on Tuesday. "I want her to get back with Alex, because I do not like watching him with other actresses on the show. It really upsets me, makes me jealous. She should come back and claim her man and claim her career and rise again, like a phoenix."
As for Heigl, her life now, as wife to singer Josh Kelly and mother to daughter Naleigh, is very different than it was in her "Grey's" days.
"I can't even remember before kids," Heigl said. "It's only two and a half years since I became a mother, but I can't remember what I was before her in a way. ... There's a re-focus that feels really good."
The arrival of Naleigh also has changed her career perspective, which might have something to do with her renewed interest in the series.
"My career was everything," she said. "It was such a relief in a way to have broadened the perspective. It put it in its place. It can't be the most important thing in my life any more."
That said, Heigl isn't done with movies. She stars in "One for the Money," an adaptation of the first book in a Janet Evanovich mystery series, where she plays a woman who becomes a bounty hunter.
"One for the Money" opens Jan. 27.
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