Throughout an look on The View, Katherine Heigl—accompanied by her eldest daughter, Naleigh—recalled her early days of recent motherhood with brutal honesty.
The co-hosts replayed a earlier look Heigl made on the present when Naleigh was only a toddler. Within the clip, she’s seen operating from the viewers as much as her mama’s lap. After watching the clip, Heigl grew emotional and defined simply how significant that individual second was to her throughout these robust days of recent motherhood after she and her husband adopted Naleigh in 2009.
“Naleigh got here to us at 9 months and three days later, I received on a airplane and went to work in Atlanta,” Heigl admitted. “I by no means noticed that child. I used to be at work with three triplets who have been enjoying my goddaughter and I spent extra time with them than I did with my new daughter and he or she bonded with my husband. So, I used to be at all times afraid that I had missed that chance to actually bond along with her and that she didn’t love me.”
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Whew. Discuss brutal honesty. I imply, she went there. And whereas it may be initially surprising to listen to a mother admit these issues out loud, these worries are universally shared by working moms in all places. The digicam panned to the now-14-year-old Naleigh as she additionally appeared emotional watching her mother open up.
Heigl admitted on the time, she thought she would be capable of deal with all the things and stability all of it—work, adopting a brand new child from a distinct nation, and elevating that child—as a result of we’re conditioned by society to consider we will. And we’re conditioned that means, notably within the U.S., as a result of a majority of moms are parenting with no village or a security web.
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“On the time, changing into a brand new mom, I used to be identical to, ‘I received it. I received it. I can deal with this,’” she mentioned. “You understand, they’ve informed us we will have all of it. We will have careers and have households and it’s all gonna be nice. It’s all gonna work out.”
It’s no marvel that one tiny second the place toddler Naleigh ran as much as her mother was such a giant second in Heigl’s actuality. Possibly she did initially share a stronger bond with Heigl’s husband, musician Josh Kelley. However that baby knew precisely who her mama was on that stage.
Naleigh, who was born in South Korea, has two siblings: 10-year-old daughter Adalaide, who they adopted in 2012, and 5-year-old son Joshua, who Katherine gave start to in 2017.
