Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Remember back when Katherine Heigl was still on Grey's Anatomy, and she complained about it all the time? Well, maybe not all the time, but certainly enough so that we all noticed. Then she became a mom, and voila! It was the perfect excuse to quit the prime-time drama about angsty Seattle doctors in 2010.
It seems as though that's her story, and she's sticking to it. The 35-year-old actress recently graced the cover of Good Housekeeping for the September 2014 issue, and opened up about how resentful she became of being a working mom.
Growing weary of managing the work-life balance, Heigl confessed, "I would come home angry and frustrated that I'd missed everything with my kid that day." She and hubs Josh Kelley had just adopted daughter Naleigh, now 5. She continued, "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."
She said she knew something had to go. "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."
So she said goodbye to Grey's, and it nothing to do with tensions on sets or contracts or the fact that drama seemed to surround her the whole time she was there, people. Mmmkay?
Anyway, three years later the fam added another baby girl to the brood, again via adoption, and Heigl admitted it was a much different experience the second time around. She said she was able to enjoy Adalaide in a relaxed way that she missed out on with Naleigh.
"Naleigh would go off to her ballet classes and other stuff, and I would sit with the baby at home," she shared. "I would read, and she would lie on my chest, and we'd lie on the couch with, like, four dogs, and watch Friday Night Lights. I found it so peaceful."
Yeah, I'm thinking that the anger and frustration she felt had less to do with her being a working mom, and more to do with going to a job that you can't stand every day. That's going to bleed over into anyone's personal life, whether they're a parent or not.
Regardless of why Heigl really quit Grey's and cut back on her rom-com gigs, it sounds like she made the best choice for her family. And if she needs to use the motherhood thing as a face-saver for the fact that she didn't seem to get along with people on set, more power to her.
Do you think a stressful work environment can affect your family life in a big way?
Image via Good Housekeeping
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
