After rising to fame through films like “Knocked Up” and television shows including “Grey’s Anatomy,” Katherine Heigl became a household name. But just as soon as she became a beloved figure, she became one of the most hated figures in Hollywood following a series of statements about the industry and her treatment within its star-studded sets.
Yet it’s not just her difficult path through Tinseltown that has shaped the star’s trajectory. She has faced a series of tragic circumstances, from death and illness in her family to her own struggles with anxiety and depression, that have impacted both her career and her life. “…There’s so much access into people’s personal lives,” she once shared with CBS News. “…But I feel like I’m learning how to live with it and be myself regardless of judgment or criticism. All I really care about are the people I love.” Throughout it all, Heigl has maintained loyalty to her family throughout the ups and downs of what life has offered her.
She lost her brother in a car accident
At the young age of seven, Katherine Heigl experienced a heartbreaking family tragedy. Her older brother, Jason, was killed in a car accident at the age of 15. The collision became fatal when he was thrown from the back of a pickup truck he was riding in with friends. He remained in the Intensive Care Unit for a week before succumbing to his injuries.
The family, who turned to Mormonism as a result of the tragedy, also made the decision to donate their son and brother’s organs upon his passing. “My parents made the decision they knew their son would have wanted made on his behalf,” Heigl wrote in an Instagram post on the 35th anniversary of her brother’s death. “…They not only knew it was what Jason would have wanted but [they also] did not want anyone else to suffer…”
Heigl started the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation in 2008, which focuses on preventing animal abuse – something that was an important cause in his life. “For a long time, Jason’s death made me afraid of being too happy because things happen so unexpectedly,” Heigl shared with the Sunday Times (per Hello! Magazine). “Your world can change and every aspect of your life is different.”
She stuck by her mother’s side through cancer and divorce
It wasn’t just her brother’s death that Katherine Heigl and her family have faced. Heigl also dealt with her parents’ divorce, which occurred towards the beginning of her Hollywood career in 1996. Shortly after, Heigl graduated from high school and moved with her mother, Nancy, to an apartment in Los Angeles to continue pursuing her dreams. Since then, the two Heigl women have collaborated on multiple public-facing campaigns, including the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, and Heigl herself has spoken at cancer awareness events. “Although we’re not perfect, we are survivors,” she told TODAY.
The actor credits her mother with being her anchor as she navigated her career. The matriarch even lives close to Heigl’s family home in Utah to stay near her daughter and grandchildren. “…Having somebody whose only agenda was me, protecting me, it is special,” she told TODAY in a separate interview.
She struggled to bond with her first adopted child
As she started her family with her husband, musician Josh Kelley, Katherine Heigl claims she had issues bonding with her first child, a daughter named Naleigh. After adopting the baby girl from South Korea in 2009, Heigl returned to work at “Grey’s Anatomy.” She was concerned that spending her time working would prevent her from properly getting to know her infant child. “I never saw that baby,” she admitted to “The View” (per Buzzfeed). “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.”
To make matters worse, Heigl thought that by missing out on these critical childhood moments it would only be her husband, who connected with baby Naleigh quickly, who would be able to bond with the baby. “Our social worker told us that it’s pretty typical for kids to react differently to their new mother,” she shared with Parent and Child Magazine. “…But it takes time for a child to trust this new situation and to trust you.”
She had to confront the white bubble she was living in to help her children
As her family grew, Katherine Heigl began to address potential issues that she feared her children would face. One of the major points she discussed with her children was racism, something that she had to come to terms with in her own adolescence. She once talked about popping the “white bubble” she grew up in after discussing the topic with her adopted Korean sister, who shared the racism she faced with Heigl. “That made me realize that I had been so naïve,” she told Parents.
In her own family with husband Josh Kelley, the actor has raised two adopted daughters, one of whom is Korean and one of whom is Black. As they grew up, the “Grey’s Anatomy” star struggled to find the right way to discuss racism with her young children. “I didn’t know how to do that without feeling like I was destroying a piece of their soul,” she shared with People. She eventually showed them kid-friendly films that tackled the topic to break the ice and begin the conversation. “I just want them to feel safe enough with us that they can tell us if they are hurt that way so that we, as a family, can come together and reduce that,” she continued to People.
Heigl was overcome with difficult rumors and accusations that ruined her career
At the peak of her career, Katherine Heigl faced numerous rumors about her on-set behavior and off-set attitude that changed Hollywood’s tune about casting her. Particularly on the “Grey’s Anatomy” set, she started to make statements that no longer endeared her to the creative forces behind the show nor the critical audience. By 2010, the actor claimed that she didn’t like the direction that her fan-favorite character Izzie Stevens was heading.
The biggest contention came in 2008 when Heigl reportedly withdrew herself from Emmy Award consideration for season 4 of “Grey’s Anatomy.” This drew ire from both Rhimes and the audience, and arguably started the public downfall of Heigl’s career. Upon reflection (and clarification), Heigl claims that her decision was taken out of context and then spiraled out of control. She even claimed that she was trying to have some “integrity” while subtly throwing shade at Rhimes by claiming the material she was given that season wasn’t at the level she wished. But years later, she has a different view of the whole debacle. “…At the time, I didn’t think anyone would notice,” she admitted to Howard Stern in 2016 (per US Weekly) “…I just quietly didn’t submit and then it became a story, and I felt I was obligated to make my statement, and … ‘Shut up, Katie.'”
Heigl alleged that Hollywood’s sexism impacted her career
Katherine Heigl has claimed that sexism in Hollywood directly impacted her changed trajectory. In a now infamous interview with Vanity Fair in 2008, she made statements that highlighted the alleged sexism she experienced on the set of the 2007 film “Knocked Up.” The actor claimed that the movie portrayed the female characters as unfunny and uptight and the male characters as jovial and goofy. After director Judd Apatow and co-star Seth Rogen reacted negatively and continued the drama in response to her comments, the rest of the Hollywood spiral began to derail. “I may have said a couple of things you didn’t like, but then that escalated to ‘She’s ungrateful,’ then that escalated to ‘She’s difficult,’ and that escalated to ‘She’s unprofessional,'” she once told The Washington Post.
After the Emmy nomination fiasco, Heigl continued to battle “difficult” labels. She has claimed that the more she spoke up, whether about on-set schedules or material she was given, the more she was pushed down and eventually out of Hollywood. But, at the time, the actor’s actions and underlying passions were something she was compelled to share within a notoriously difficult industry. “I felt so strongly that I also got a megaphone out on my soapbox,” she shared with former “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star Ellen Pompeo (who praised Heigl for speaking out) for Variety’s “Actors on Actors” in 2023. “There was no part of me that imagined a bad reaction.”
Her career setbacks impacted her mental health
It wasn’t just Katherine Heigl’s career that experienced heavy impact following the series of controversial interviews and moments the actor imparted in the late 2000s. She also has lamented the serious mental health issues she has experienced as a result of the vitriol she faced from Hollywood. Initially, as she began to backtrack on the mistakes she (thought she) made, it set the stage for a difficult mindset that she maintained for years afterward. “The more I said I was sorry, the more they wanted it,” she told The Washington Post. “The more terrified and scared I was of doing something wrong, the more I came across like I had really done something horribly wrong.”
This led to severe depression and anxiety, something that impacted her so much that she left Los Angeles to stave off feelings of wanting to be dead. Her actions even frightened her family, who joined her and eventually settled with her in her current home in Utah. “I regret deeply that I scared them like that,” she admitted to The Washington Post. “But I just couldn’t control it. I had no tools.” She eventually turned to medications like Zoloft to help her stabilize her mood and combat her depressive thoughts.
Excruciating neck pain led her to undergo major surgery
In 2023, Katherine Heigl announced that she had undergone major neck surgery to treat a herniated disk. The former “Grey’s Anatomy” star had two titanium disks inserted into her neck, which kept her in the hospital for some time. Describing the pain as “excruciating,” Heigl shared that it was going to take a few months for her to fully heal. “I am so deeply, deeply grateful to the incredible Dr’s and care team that saved me…and blessed me with a new pain free lease on life!” she shared in an Instagram post.
The serious surgery didn’t stop the star from cracking jokes, telling her followers that she was “bionic” and could “stand on [her] head” for multiple hours. “Clearly I’ve been blessed with the luck of the Irish today!” she said cheekily in the same Instagram post, she shared on St. Patrick’s Day.
