Katherine Heigl on Mormonism: ‘I listened to my parents, I respected the rules’

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LOOK AT THE PUPPY. Aw. The puppy has sort of a “FML” face, which I attribute to being a stunt dog assigned the unenviable task of trying to make Katherine Heigl seem likeable. Good Housekeeping also used Katherine’s two daughters in their photoshoot too, because Heigl really is THAT unlikeable and the only way anyone can tolerate her is if we get to see photos of adorable children and puppies. Anyway, Katherine is still shilling her new TV series, which I guess is premiering this fall. So, obviously, she spent the whole interview talking about how much she loved taking a step back from working full time and being in LA… now that she’s back in LA, working full time. You can read the full piece here and here are some highlights:

Adopting her daughter from South Korea after growing up with an adopted sister: “My family had its own unique look. And I wanted the one I began with my husband to have the same look, in a way.”

Naleigh’s adoption happened faster than expected & Katherine was working a lot: “I would come home angry and frustrated that I’d missed everything with my kid that day. I didn’t get to wake her up from her nap, or do bath time or bedtime. I’d have to sneak into her room and kiss her when she was sleeping, hoping not to wake her up.”

Messed up priorities: “I felt like my priorities were messed up. I was putting so much time and energy into just my work, but I was raised [to believe] that family comes first.” Shortly after returning to Grey’s, she took a family leave and spent a couple of “glorious” months at home, caring for her daughter. It confirmed her growing sense that she’d have to cut ties with the show, and soon afterward, in 2010, she did.

Moving to Utah (except she’s moved back to LA now): “We had big dreams of expanding our family, moving to the mountains and having a quieter life. Utah is spectacularly beautiful, the people are wonderful and kind, it’s an easy commute from L.A. — and there’s no traffic!”

She was raised Mormon but she’s not anymore: “That structure and discipline was really good for me. I had a childhood that was a childhood. I listened to my parents. I respected the rules.”

Adopting Adalaide: “We brought her home, and right away Naleigh was like a little mommy. She’d say, ‘No, no. You’re not holding her right.’ Or, ‘She needs to eat again.’ I’d be like, ‘Would you back off? Just give me a minute!’ “

[From Good Housekeeping]

The part about “messed up priorities” – I included some of Good Housekeeping’s filler because I found that interesting. I guess that’s Katherine’s story now? She quit Grey’s Anatomy because she wanted to spend more time with her family? And it had nothing to do with bad-mouthing nearly everyone on the show, burning so many career bridges and wanting to move on to films? Rii-ight. It’s worth noting that Katherine didn’t immediately pick up and move to Utah, post-Grey’s. She spent years working back-to-back on crappy movies and it was only after she burned many more bridges that she suddenly decided to “focus on her family” and move to Utah. And now Katherine is back in LA, working full time. All of which is her right and yes, she has to support her family and props to her for bringing home the bacon, etc. Just don’t sell me some touchy-feely revisionist history about why you left certain jobs and why you “left Hollywood” (for, like, a year).

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Photos courtesy of Good Housekeeping.

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42 Responses to “Katherine Heigl on Mormonism: ‘I listened to my parents, I respected the rules’”

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  1. Flounder says:

    I know everyone hates her, but I loved her in all those rom coms. I just want her to be nice and keep it going!

    • Nicole says:

      Good luck with that.

    • Jayna says:

      I loved her in all the rom coms, too. I thought she was great in them. I loved the one with Josh Dumel about the baby. I thought it was a tired storyline been done before in movies or TV movies, and it surprised me by feeling fresh. They were great in it.

  2. aims says:

    Her girls are adorable! No matter how many poses with puppies and beautiful children can soften her ugliness.

    • Nicole says:

      Er… her super stunning face sorta helps with that ugliness problem. I know what you mean though.

      • astra says:

        It’s funny because I find her to be actually ugly, physically. I see nothing at all stunning about her and think her mouth is one of the least attractive mouths I’ve ever seen on anyone, let alone a celeb that is supposed to be above average in looks. Of course, it’s all subjective but she looks like Ashley Judd to me, who is another celeb I find to be ugly.

    • holly hobby says:

      Maybe she should hang out with Charlize Theron and Sean Penn. Ugliness gets along with ugliness!

  3. Lizzie says:

    I think she’s a horrible professionally. But I love how she adopted her girls and all those pets.

  4. DCJ says:

    Her little ones are so very cute. I don’t hate her. Her Grey’s storyline was bad during that time, so she wasn’t wrong just unprofessional to express her thoughts. I thought her behavior was poor during that time but for some reason I still like her.

    • mayamae says:

      I don’t hate her either. I like her in interviews, and I find her very genuine with her family. Maybe it’s left over affection for Izzie.

      • Yup, Me says:

        I didn’t even watch Grey’s and I still like her. Not sure why. I also like cranky old people, particularly mean old ladies, so, yeah. There’s that, I guess.

  5. MollyB says:

    If that’s her kitchen, I’m totally jealous. That’s all I got from this.

  6. Cel says:

    I hope that “the look of her family” comment was taken out of context or something because it strikes me as off. As if her children are accessories.

    • mayamae says:

      Maybe she just phrased it poorly. I’ve always thought she was honoring her Korean sister by adopting a Korean child.

  7. Sugar says:

    I think she’s kind of an ungrateful witch, but there’s also an element of misogyny in the widely held narrative that she’s a difficult bitch. Is she a difficult bitch? Probably. But so are tons of working male actors and we don’t read about their careers tanking because they’re ball busters.

    Plus, Heigl’s career tanked because her movies quit making money, not because she’s a bitch. Julia Roberts is a super bitch but she still works because her movies make money. Bitches are tolerated if they bring in money. Heigl’s crime is being an unlikable, phony, bitch that the misogynistic press loved to pillory.

    • MaiGirl says:

      I agree. She definitely should have thought things through, and got a little too big for her britches, but she had some points that were valid, if miscommunicated. I don’t think she is the most pleasant of people, but the knives would not be nearly as sharp if she were a man.

  8. Sam says:

    I can praise her for so visibily building her family through adoption, which is a wonderful thing, and think that she’s a terror to work with. If she’s smart, take whatever money you have left (and the royalties she’ll be entitled to) and retreat to Utah and live your life. Be normal. Leave Hollywood behind. It seems like she’s being pulled towards being that way, but feels obligated to keep acting.

    • holly hobby says:

      She probably feels obligated because she needs the income. I really haven’t seen her husband producing any music since he married her. It’s like she sucked all his creative juices out after they got together.

  9. BooBooLaRue says:

    Something nice: I love the green tile behind her. Where can I get it?

  10. B says:

    I wonder what kind of mom she actually is..

    • mayamae says:

      I can’t help but feel that’s a little unfair. She has a warm and loving relationship with her own mother. She was fiercely protective of T.R. Knight through the Isaiah Washington debacle. She appears to have a supportive and loving husband. Why assume she’s not a good mother? I appreciate that she didn’t sell the first pics of her kids.

    • Scarlet Vixen says:

      I follow her husband, Josh Kelley, on facebook. He often posts pics of Heigl and the girls and they seem to adore her and vice versa. She seems to be a very hands-on mom who likes to bake cookies, ride horses, read stories to them, etc. You can tell they’re honestly candid pics of their real home life–not obviously staged photos like Leann Rimes and Kimye post. I’ve also seen Heigl in interviews and she’s genuinely passionate about being a mommy and about animal rescue. Even if she’s a brat to work with, I can’t hate on someone who loves babies and animals so much.

  11. TheOriginalKitten says:

    I have tile all over the kitchen in my new apt and I f*cking hate it. It’s on the backsplash (which there is a LOT of) and all over the countertops. I don’t understand why anyone would use tile on countertops. Why do you want little nooks for dirt, crumbs and gunk to collect?
    I’m just a renter so I’ve been exploring ways to cover it all up temporarily..I’ve found a few potential solutions but suggestions are welcomed.

    Oh and have I mentioned that the tile color and design is beige 1970s fuggery? Gross and Why, God?

    Sorry for the off-topic tirade but that picture of the green tile awakened something angry inside of me.

    • Lucky Charm says:

      There is a lightweight granite counter that lays right over the top of the existing (tile) countertop. It’s MUCH cheaper than replacing the whole thing with a granite counter, because you don’t need the thickness since you are basically using the existing counter just with a solid layer on top. I don’t know the company/ies that do this, but I know such a product exists. 🙂

    • Jayna says:

      But the countertop is where you really have the problem with cleaning so much with the grout lines because it’s the work surface. It’s clear from the photo she has a natural stone as her countertop. And probably if we could see the whole kitchen, the backsplash is not the green tile where her stove is. The backsplash everywhere else would stay pretty clean with the green tiles and light grout.

  12. mayamae says:

    Does anyone know if the second adoption was domestic? Prior to this photo shoot, she used her children minimally for publicity. I remember reading she adopted the second time, but few details.

  13. ladybird says:

    Hmmm. No traffic in Utah, my foot. Tell that to the bumper to bumper hour it takes me to get to work most days. There isn’t much traffic in the mountains, sure, but there isn’t much of anything else there either. It’s not LA, but driving the Wasatch front is not a picnic.

    • Lucky Charm says:

      I can’t imagine that Utah traffic at it’s worst is anywhere near comparable to L.A. traffic at any time of the day or night. To her, it probably does seem like there’s no traffic. It’s all relative. 🙂

  14. Dancinnancy says:

    I want her green tiled kitchen. Pretty.

    That’s all I have to say about that.

  15. TDC says:

    Kitten-
    Check out this fabulous DIY for a concrete countertop from Little Green Notebook!

    http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2014/06/black-concrete-countertops.html?m=1

    This is a beautiful alternative to natural stone AND it’s easy on the wallet! Good luck!

  16. Josefa says:

    Her family looks very cute, I hope she’s a better mother than she’s a professional (not like the bar is set too high at that).

  17. tinyfencer says:

    I’m not a fan of hers, but I have to admit she looks absolutely beautiful in this shoot.

  18. holly hobby says:

    Oh yeah I caught her revisionist history. At the time, she publicly stated to People that she left Grey’s because of her first daughter. However this is the same time she filmed the Josh Duhamel movie and then that Stephanie Plum one. Yeah back to back. I remember the internet boards mocking her at the time too.

    So no, she didn’t leave to play mommy nor was she resentful because she can’t play mommy. She was resentful because she’s stuck in a tv show while there’s money to be mined in film. It ultimately blew up in her face and she had to take a hiatus. I wonder why she never explained why she was hocking Nyquil.

    You can give me all those happy pappy pics of kids and dogs. I still think she is a capital B.

  19. Jayna says:

    I love her kitchen, and I love her little girls. They are so cute. I think it’s great she’s into adoption and she looks like a great mom to me.

    Working on a one-hour drama is very, very long hours. I’ve seen many an actress say you get no time with your children. In fact, it’s why Mariska Hargitay from SVU went to part-time. She wanted to be with her young children and the long hours just didn’t allow that on her one-hour drama.

    Katherine also had a promising movie career at the time. I think she left thinking she would get more time with her little girl newly adopted, which also has its unique challenges, adopting a little girl from a foreign land, and still make great money grabbing some movie roles. It didn’t work out that way, and from what I can tell, she is the main major breadwinner in her family or equal at the least. So it turned out to be a mistake financially I guess since her movie career floundered from the negativity surrounded some of her earlier comments.

    I don’t dislike Katherine and wish her well with the show.

  20. danielle says:

    Have very mixed feelings about her. Find her very watchable and beautiful. Admire her comittment to animals. Adoption is great. Feel some of the hatred of her is misogynistic for sure. Some of her complaints I could see her point. But she went way too far and couldn’t self correct when things were going bad. I think she doesn’t have much self awareness, and can’t admit mistakes.

  21. MissTrial says:

    I love that Boxer puppy!

    Kaiser: that is just the Boxer ‘look’ — nothing telling in that precious face.

  22. serena says:

    Her little girls are totally beautiful!!