Izzie Stevens is one of the original five interns from the beginning of the series. She grew up poor, living in a trailer park in the nearby community of Tacoma. She became pregnant at 16 and gave her baby up for adoption, then paid her way through college and medical school by working as a lingerie model a secret she'd hope to keep from her colleagues but was revealed by fellow intern Alex Karev when he posted pictures of Heigl's ads all around the doctors' locker rooms. Izzie would go on to have a relationship with Alex. Alex's revelation doesn't help Izzie's effort to overcome what she thinks is the perception that she doesn't know how to do her job well. Izzie has a brother-sister kind of relationship with fellow intern George O'Malley. At the beginning of the series, the two of them live in Meredith's house with Meredith. Izzie has strong reactions against George's relationship with Dr. Callie Torres and goes to great lengths to break them up.Izzie is feisty and goes to great lengths even at times doing what she knows is wrong