‘I never saw that baby’: Katherine Heigl says work schedule prevented her from seeing eldest child

Katherine Heigl opened up about her battle with working mom guilt as she recalled fears of not bonding with daughter Naleigh due to her grueling work schedule. 

After adopting a nine-month-old baby girl from South Korea in 2009, the 44-year-old actress revealed she struggled to juggle motherhood and starring as Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy.

‘I never saw that baby,’ the Emmy Award winner said during an appearance on The View. ‘I was at work with three triplets who were playing my goddaughter, and I spent more time with them than I did with my new daughter.’

As her husband, Josh Kelley, bonded with their eldest, Heigl said she immediately on a plane to film her hit medical drama in Atlanta, Georgia.

Her absence caused her to ‘always’ be ‘afraid that’ she ‘missed that opportunity to really bond with[Naleigh, now 14], and that she didn’t love me — in that moment.’

‘At the time, becoming a new mother, I was just like, ‘I got it. I got it. I can handle this,’ she recalled. ‘You know, they’ve told us we can have it all. We can have careers and have families and it’s all gonna be great. It’s all gonna work out.’ 

Lost time: After adopting a nine-month-old baby girl from South Korea in 2009, the 44-year-old actress revealed she struggled to juggle motherhood and starring as Izzie Stevens on Grey’s Anatomy

‘I never saw that baby,’ the Emmy Award winner said during an appearance on The View. ‘I was at work with three triplets who were playing my goddaughter, and I spent more time with them than I did with my new daughter’

Fears: Her absence caused her to ‘always’ be ‘afraid that’ she ‘missed that opportunity to really bond with[Naleigh, now 14], and that she didn’t love me — in that moment’

Heigl and her spouse have since Adalaide, 10, who was born in Louisiana, before welcoming son Joshua Bishop Kelley Jr., who she gave birth to in 2016.

Ultimately wanting to spend more time with her family influenced her decision to  leave Grey’s Anatomy in its sixth season back in 2010.

‘I started a family, and it changed everything,’ she told The Daily Telegraph last year. ‘It changed my desire to work full-time. I went on family leave and just got to be a [mother], and it changed my whole perspective. That was really the turning point.’ 

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‘At the time, becoming a new mother, I was just like, ‘I got it. I got it. I can handle this,’ she recalled. ‘You know, they’ve told us we can have it all. We can have careers and have families and it’s all gonna be great. It’s all gonna work out’ (pictured on Grey’s Anatomy)

Mom: Heigl and her spouse have since Adalaide, 10, who was born in Louisiana, before welcoming son Joshua Bishop Kelley Jr., who she gave birth to in 2016 

She added: ‘So before I was due back, I spoke again to [show runner] Shonda [Rhimes] about wanting to leave. Then I waited at home until I was given the formal okay that I was off the show. The rumours that I refused to return were totally untrue.’

Katherine went on to claim that she was encouraged to try and balance her career with motherhood to stay on the series. 

‘[Shonda] wanted to try to figure out how I could do both [parenting and Grey’s], and I kind of wanted to do both. There wasn’t a great way to compromise the work schedule that didn’t negatively affect the crew or the cast,’ Katherine added. 

Loved ones: The couple adopted Naleigh from South Korea when she was nine months old and Adalaide at birth in the U.S. Pictured with her daughters

Her family currently lives a quiet life on a ranch in Utah. 

Heigl has faced controversy after controversy throughout her career – which began with small movie roles in the mid-90s – many of which were sparked by comments that she herself made.

While playing the role of Dr. Izzie Stephens on Grey’s Anatomy, the actress prompted outrage when she refused to put herself forward for an Emmy Award in 2008, claiming that she was not ‘given the material to warrant a nomination’.

Then in 2009, during an appearance on David Letterman, she slammed the show’s producers for making the cast work a 17-hour day, branding them ‘cruel and mean.’

Baby love: They also welcomed their biological son Joshua (left) in 2016

Heigl left the show the following year in order to pursue movie roles, however after scoring a few big hits with comedies like Knocked Up, which she criticized as being ‘a little sexist’, and 27 Dresses, her other on-screen projects underperformed, if not totally flopped, at the box office.

She also struggled to escape her negative reputation – which even saw her labeled in some forums as ‘the most hatred actress in Hollywood’.

Katherine has made a comeback of late, and is currently starring on Netflix series Firefly Lane, which was recently renewed for a second season.