Katherine Heigl Explains Why She and Husband Josh Kelley Moved Their Family From Los Angeles to Utah: Details

Putting her family first. Katherine Heigl opened up about how moving her kids from Los Angeles to Utah helped them in the long run.

“I didn’t know how to raise them in L.A., so I felt like I could do it here,” the actress, 44, told E! News on Wednesday, March 29, of her and husband Josh Kelley's decision. “I could be more on top of things that scare me, and I could be more on top of the kinds of friends they have and places they’re going, the kind of activities they’re involved in — and what the hell they’re doing on their phones.”

The Grey's Anatomy alum, who shares daughters Naleigh, 14, Adalaide, 10, and son Joshua, 6, with Kelley, 43, said the change removed added stress from their lives.

“I could kind of decompress and let that hustle part of me go — a little bit,” she continued. “I don’t know that in any career you can ever completely stop hustling, but being able to separate it a little bit and choose those times of hustle versus just being in it constantly was really important to me.”

Heigl previously addressed the difficulties she faced while trying to juggle her career and motherhood. In November 2022, the 27 Dresses star recalled feeling detached from daughter Naleigh when she was a newborn.

"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,” she said on an episode of The View. “So, I was always afraid that I had missed that opportunity to really bond with her and that she didn't love me."

The Firefly Lane actress, who adopted her eldest from South Korea in 2009, noted that she was “on a plane” to set less than a year after Naleigh's arrival.

"At the time, becoming a new mother, I was just like, ‘I got it. I got it. I can handle this,'" she shared during the 2022 appearance. "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."

Heigl has been an advocate for adoption since expanding her family, writing via Instagram in December 2021, "November was National Adoption Month. A month to celebrate all adoptive families and to recognize the need for forever homes for children in foster care."