In amidst the bombs, she was also dropped by her publicist and struggled to find film work. Her last three movies have all gone straight to DVD in the UK, and her attempt at a TV comeback, the Homeland-inspired State of Affairs, was cancelled after one season. In a further sign of her downfall, her 2015 lesbian romance Jenny's Wedding was forced to seek donations on the fundraising site Indiegogo to help fund its editing. Asked by TMZ why she wasn't funding it herself, Heigl said, "I haven't made that much in the last few years. I gotta support my family."

Heigl was adrift, but industry players kept kicking. When Heigl yet again apologised in 2016 for her Vanity Fair comments, Seth Rogen responded with mixed feelings.

"I respect the fact that perhaps she realizes that it has hurt her career," he told Howard Stern. "And I don't want that to have happened to her at all because I've said a thousand stupid things and I really like her. [But] when I apologize to people, generally I don't take to a public forum to do it."