Katherine Heigl thinks she is too "sarcastic" to be considered "America's sweetheart".

The 'Knocked Up' actress - who witnessed a public backlash after slamming the comedy as "sexist" in 2007 - admitted while at times she wishes she could "shut up", she has learnt to "embrace" the irreverent attitude she has inherited from her mother.

She said: "I look at some of what I had to say, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, I would tell myself to shut up too.

"I've never really been America's sweetheart. I had 'em for a second thinking maybe I was. And then I opened my mouth, and it was very clear I wasn't. There's so much of my mother's caustic, sarcastic, irreverent take on things. But I also love and embrace it."

However, the star explained she still has a desire for "everyone" to like her.

Katherine added in an interview with Elle magazine: "I think it's a female thing. I'm just that a**hole who really wants everyone to like me, and it's a ridiculous goal and it's an impossible goal.

"I think if I just keep pushing forward and showing myself through and through, they will see me again for what I really am and not what has been sort of spun about me."