Katherine Heigl Opens Up on Lacking Maternal Instinct

Katherine Heigl is a known for her opinionated spirit and uncomplimentary mouth in Hollywood. However, this time around the former Grey’s Anatomy actress opens up about something entirely different–motherhood.

Katherine Heigl sat down with German Weekly newspaper Bild am Sonntag to discuss the trials and tribulations during the first few months of raising her adopted daughter Naleigh. Heigl revealed to the newspaper that while she was anticipating the joys of motherhood, she felt stunted as a new mother when Naleigh arrived from South Korea.

“People are always talking about the strong bond between mother and daughter, this magical connection – but we didn’t have that,” Heigl says.

At the time her daughter Naleigh (short for Nancy Leigh) came, Heigl had just finished filming Grey’s Anatomy and was beginning her new filming schedule for the romantic comedy Life As We Know It. Katherine went on to describe those tumultous days as, “the hardest time in my life. … I fought incredibly hard for my daughter to accept me as mother. Her rejection almost broke my heart.”

Dealing with those oppressive days weren’t easy for Heigl, and instead of trying to stick it out, the actress threw herself back into work. “[It] made the already difficult process of getting closer take even longer. … When I realized that, I immediately cut back on work.” That’s when she left the hit soap Grey’s Anatomy for good.

One thing that bothered the actress is that her child didn’t have a hard time bonding with husband and country singer Josh Kelley. “At first I blamed myself and thought I was a bad mother. It took a while before I could admit to myself that the lack of trust had nothing to do with me,” she says.

However now with work and dedicating herself to making it work, Katherine Heigl’s relationship with her daughter Naleigh, now 4 years old, is stronger than ever. “I’d like to fly to South Korea with the family,” she says, “to show her the country that she comes from.”