Katherine Heigl: Connecting With Adopted Daughter Was a Challenge

By PopEater Staff Posted Sep 21st 2010 11:49AM

Katherine Heigl is still in awe with her 20-month-old daughter, whom she adopted with husband Josh Kelly. But the 'Life As We Know It' actress admits connecting with Nancy Leigh Mi-Eun (Naleigh) had its challenges because she wasn't ready to put her career on hold.

"I had a lot of complicated emotions about it because I chose to go back to work," she says in the October issue of InStyle. "I love what I do and -- this isn't just making excuses -- if I weren't fulfilling this thing in me to perform, to live out my passion, I don't know that I would be the mom I need to be."

Heigl now only works three months a year, instead of nine, adding the mother-daughter relationship has improved.

The couple talked about adopting a baby even before they were engaged. "I had spoken to [Josh] about it before we got engaged and because I wanted to make sure we were on the same page -- not everybody feels the way I do about adoption," she said. "I don't know why I felt like it was so important for me to do it before we had biological children, but I felt like I had been waiting and dreaming about Naleigh for a long time."

Much to Heigl's chagrin, Naleigh bonded more quickly with Kelly. "The first thing she said was, 'Dada,' and then she'd call everybody else she loved 'Dada,'" Heigl says.

She doubted herself as a mother at first, revealing, "There's this thing where, as a new mother, you're just constantly going, 'Am I doing this right?'"

"Naleigh learned with me that the word 'Mama' was synonymous with kisses," Heigl says. "So when she first started saying, 'Mama,' she would also make a little kiss sound ... She started saying it maybe a month or two ago. I would come into the room and she'd go, 'Mama!' And it was like, Thank God."

Tags: Josh Kelly, katherine heigl

Comments

(7)

Tuesday 21 September

By Harri

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I hope so if she doesn't get her stuff together.

By amy

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By Courtney

Katherine is a stuck up little snot of course girls are going to be closer to their dad when their little it's tradition. she needs to learn to keep her mouth shut she adopted out of vanity more than anything else. my favorite actress nearly had 3 natural kids by the time she was Ms Heigl's age plus three step children from her husbands first marriage. and never said the outrageous things Kate does it feels like little Neleigh is a prop and nothing more. granted that actress miscarried her first pregnancy during her honeymoon only to have her oldest daughter about 14 months later then two more girls in the next six or so years

By Carol

Ugh. She is as self absorbed as ever.

By Hi Todd

Selma still has some great yams, but she got uglyyyy, must be her genes catching up with her!

Wednesday 22 September

By sharonekaydavis

So cute a baby wish them all the best.

Saturday 09 October

By ann

Every baby says da da first. Its just them learning to talk.

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