Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl has criticised producers for going public with details of her contract dispute.

The actress pulled out of talks to settle the conflict this week, with US reports later revealing that Heigl believes she should be paid as much as co-stars Sandra Oh and Isaiah Washington.

"I am embarrassed that this has become a public matter and disappointed that Touchstone felt it necessary to divulge private employment information," Katherine told WENN.

"I had hoped I would be able to deal with this issue confidentially with my bosses. I dropped out of the renegotiation simply because I wanted to treat myself with the respect I was not getting from them."

However, Heigl has insisted that she remains "committed" to the show despite her objection to the behaviour of executives.

She added: "No matter how unhappy I am about their decision to respond to this publicly, I continue to be passionate about and committed to this character."