Katherine Heigl Cries as She Opens up About Being a Working Mom | "Was Always Afraid She Didn't Love Me"

'I was always afraid that I had missed that opportunity to really bond with her,' the star shared.

Cover Image Source: Getty Images/Jason Merritt

By Suchitra B

December 9, 2022

Posted December 9, 2022

Katherine Heigl last week opened up about parenthood and all the love and heartache that comes with it during appearances on The View and The Drew Barrymore Show. The star, who's touring the media circuit to promote the two-part second and final season of her Netflix series Firefly Lane, admitted during her appearance on The View that parenthood isn't as idyllic as she had initially anticipated.

The co-hosts of the ABC chat show played an old snippet from one of Heigl's earlier appearances on the show ten years ago during which she introduced her daughter Naleigh. In the clip, little Naleigh runs up to her mom onstage to be wrapped up in her warm embrace. A now-older Naleigh, Heigl's mother Nancy, Heigl's sister Meg, and other audience members watched as the star began to tear up seeing the old clip.

The 44-year-old actress and her husband of 15 years, Josh Kelley, adopted their daughters Naleigh, 14, and Adalaide, 10, in 2009 and 2012, respectively. The couple welcomed their biological son, Joshua, 6, in 2016.

When asked why that particular moment meant so much to her, Heigl revealed that Naleigh "came to us at nine months [old]" three days before she was supposed to return to work. "At the time, becoming a new mother, I was just like, 'I got it! I can handle this.' They've told us we can have it all. We can have careers and have families, and it's all going to be great. It’s all going to work out. [But] I never saw that baby," she explained. "I was at work with three triplets who were playing my goddaughter and I spent more time with them than I did my new daughter."

"She bonded with my husband, of course," Heigl continued. "He was with her. So I was always afraid that I had missed that opportunity to really bond with her and that she didn’t love me. And that moment? Yeah."

Later in the week, Heigl appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show and shared more about the value of motherhood and developing a strong relationship with her daughters. "I have a very, very strong mother and we're very close. We talk twice a day, every day—coffee and cocktails," she said, laughing. "And, well, I don't think that's going to happen for me. I don't think my girls will call me twice a day, every day," Heigl joked, as she searched the audience for Naleigh.

The actress does share a lovely relationship with her mom. She recently opened up about her mother being a rock for her throughout her career. "She has protected me my whole career, and many, many young women in Hollywood did not have what I had," she told TODAY. "And I was really, really fortunate because we were chatting about it, and I said, 'Mom, I think if you hadn't been there, it would not have gone so well for me.' I think I would've very easily been talked into things that I would not—that I would regret."