Katherine Heigl makes case for intimacy coordinators

Katherine Heigl learned the importance of intimacy coordinators' on sets after her experience with one on Netflix's show Firefly Lane.

In a chat with fellow star Ellen Pompeo on Variety's Actors on Actors series, the Grey's Anatomy star confessed she was unsure about them initially.

"I was like, 'I'm an old Hollywood broad, **. I know what I'm doing. You don't have to tell me how to make out on camera,'" adding, "I was so awkward about it."

"I ended up loving this woman so deeply and being so grateful for her because she protected us in a way that I didn't realize how unprotected we were, the 44-year-old continued. I didn't even really quite realize having somebody else stand there and say, 'She won't do that, find another way to shoot it."

The actress explained that the intimacy coordinator was "protecting" her. "I was like, 'This is great. I don't have to be the bad guy,'" she said.

The 44-year-old also added the intimacy coordinator helped take a "weight off" of her on set.

"We did have young girls on the set. There was a rape scene. And for her to be there protecting them, I felt this weight off of me in a way that I didn't feel like I had to find a way to fight those battles for these girls," she explained. "I'm always the bad guy. People like me to be the bad guy."