Katherine Heigl shares rare photos of her daughter Naleigh in honor of her 13th birthday
Katherine Heigl is celebrating her daughter’s 13th birthday with a series of sweet throwback photos.
The Grey’s Anatomy alum, who is currently starring in Netflix’s Firefly Lane, took to Instagram Tuesday to share photos of her daughter Nancy Leigh, aka Naleigh, whom she shares with husband Josh Kelley. The couple adopted Naleigh from Korea when she was a baby. Heigl shared the first photos she and Kelley received of Naleigh at 9 months old, as well as photos through the years leading up to her 13th year.
“The memories drift in and out like the ebbing of the tide and I keep trying to chase them, grip them tight in my hands, hold them still so I can live it all just one more time,” Heigl gushed in the caption. “This girl. The girl that made me a mother. The girl that gave my life purpose. Meaning. Direction. Boundless eternal love. This girl turns 13 today. 13. She is officially a teenager. I can’t seem to process it. How did this happen. Wasn’t she my silly, giggling, gap toothed, rolly polly baby just a few years ago… just yesterday? God am I grateful. For yesterday. For today. For tomorrow. For every memory that drifts in on a breeze and flutters across my heart.”
She concluded her post with, “I love you Naleigh. I love you with every fiber of being, every cell in my body, every wish in my heart. I love you. Happy Birthday my beautiful girl.”
The Ugly Truth star opened up about Naleigh, the eldest of her three children, in a recent interview with Parents magazine.
“She's only one of two kids in her grade who doesn't have their own phone,” Heigl explained of her then pre-teen. “So she's been sneaking my iPad and creating TikTok videos without my permission. I know she thinks I'm being a tyrant, but I worry about the effect of social media on kids her age. I watched The Social Dilemma. So I'm like, ‘Go ahead and hate me. I'm trying to save you!’”
She also shared that she’s open to having conversations with Naleigh and Adalaide, her second daughter who was also adopted, about their biological parents.
“They do have more questions as they get older,” Heigl told the outlet. “We have said to them, this is your story. We don't have any information about your biological fathers, but we do have a bit about your biological mothers. If you guys want to talk more about them, you can have as much or as little information as you want. Tell us what you're comfortable with knowing.”
