Updates about Katherine Heigl’s three children are few and far between, but whenever the moment arises, the 27 Dresses star is an open book.
The former Grey’s Anatomy star and her husband Josh Kelley share three children together aged between 15 and and seven.
Heigl has said she and Kelley originally planned to add a fourth sibling, but the universe had other ideas. In an interview with Parents magazine, Heigl explained that the pair initially “thought that we needed one more child to complete this home.” They were considering whether that child would be biological, adopted or fostered. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, and Heigl’s whole perspective changed.
“I have completely changed my mind. I am very content with my three!”
So, who are her children? Below, meet the three kids at the centre of Heigl’s universe.
Who are Katherine Heigl’s adopted and biological children?
Katherine Heigl is mum to two daughters, Naleigh, 14, and Adalaide, 11. Both were adopted by Heigl and Kelley.
Naleigh was born in South Korea and was adopted at 9 months old. Shortly after adopting her, Heigl told Gala magazine that she would love to welcome another child into her family.
“We would love to have a second child, adopted or biological,” she told the publication.
In 2012, Heigl and Kelley did just that—Adalaide, born in Louisiana, was adopted by the pair.
Heigl has spoken previously about the emotional moment she met Adalaide for the first time.
“Ten years ago today Adalaide made her way into the world and into our arms,” she shared in an Instagram post in April 2022.
“She was the smallest baby I had ever seen. Weighing in at just 4 pounds 11 ounces. I could place her in the palm of my hand and her little legs would only reach an inch past my wrist. I started calling her peanut after that. My beautiful, delicious, observant peanut.
“She made you work to make her laugh… still does. She has the most beautiful soulful eyes and when she trains them on you just know she’s taking it ALL in and yes…she’s judging you. If you are one of her people count yourself blessed. Her loyalty. Devotion. Care. Love. Is Boundless. We count ourselves very very blessed.”
In 2017, Heigl became pregnant with her third child, welcoming a baby son, Joshua, that year.
At the time, Kelley opened up to Us Weekly about having a biological child.
“With Adalaide, you know, we adopted her from birth, so we got that experience. Naleigh, we got her when she was 9 months old, so this obviously is our first time going through this. It’s exciting and super new.”
In July 2022, Heigl shared a sweet update with Adelaide and Joshua enjoying the summer sun. Summing it all up, she simply captioned the image with a red love heart.
Heigl has also spoken about the significance of adopting. In November 2020, she shared a photo in celebration of National Adoption Month. “A month to celebrate all adoptive families and to recognise the need for forever homes for children in foster care,” she wrote.
Heigl has also explained why she chose to adopt in the first place: “I wanted my own family to resemble the one I came from, so I always knew I wanted to adopt from Korea,” she said shortly after adopting Naleigh.
“We have talked about having biological children as well, but we decided to adopt first. I just wanted to be a mum.”
In November 2022, Heigl appeared on US talkshow, The View, with Naleigh. During the segment, Heigl emotionally described how she has struggled to balance her work with motherhood.
“Naleigh came to us at nine months and three days later, I got on a plane and went to work in Atlanta,” the actor admitted.
“I never saw that baby. 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 and she bonded with my husband. So, I was always afraid that I had missed that opportunity to really bond with her and that she didn’t love me.”
Naleigh was visibly emotional as well as Heigl continued to explain how society might have us believe that parents should be able to “do it all”.
“At the time, becoming a new mother, I was just like, ‘I got it. I got it. I can handle this’
“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.”
But Heigl knows as well as any other parent now that raising children is never linear, and she’s well aware of how much love her children have for her—and vice versa.
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