Actress Katherine Heigl adopted baby Naleigh with husband Josh Kelley September, 2009 from South Korea. One of the reasons she adopted Naleigh was because Katherine’s old sister Meg Heigl-Beltran was also adopted from Korea.
Now, in a new blog for ivillage, Katherine really opens up about the stresses (and nightmare) of trying to excel in her career, as a new mom, and as a wife. The nasty truth is that sometimes when you have everything you’ve always dreamed of, you’re too busy to enjoy it, or to do everything well. That’s what happened with Katherine:
I could not have known when I was 10 years old holding other women’s children and playing the greatest game of make-believe on earth that I would one day have to reconcile my two great loves. I didn’t realize that having it all would not look and feel as I imagined. I knew, of course, as I prepared to welcome my daughter into my life that it would be a bit of a juggling act but I had no doubt that I could do it. After all, it’s 2012 and women have been told that we can have it all if we want it. I went into it full throttle, ready to buckle down and make it all work seamlessly as I always imagined I could. The thing is I couldn’t.
No matter how great my intentions, how lofty my goals, how passionate my commitment, I was failing. I was failing my work, I was failing my daughter, I was failing my husband. I was stressed out and exhausted. I was worried and afraid it was all slipping through my fingers no matter how tight my grip. I couldn’t appreciate or enjoy the moments with Naleigh because I feared they weren’t enough for her and knew they weren’t enough for me. I couldn’t enjoy the work because I was so distracted by the little being in my trailer waiting for me. I couldn’t help but wonder what I had gotten myself into and if the choice I made to be a working mother was the most selfish decision of my life.
On March 11, 2010, after some turmoil on her hit show Grey’s Anatomy, Katherine was abruptly released from her contract with the show.
After some time being a full time mom, Katherine felt like that wasn’t decision wasn’t enough:
The simple truth is that I love my daughter passionately and as most mothers do, think she is the smartest, funniest, prettiest child in the whole world — but she cannot fulfill everything in me.
CLICK HERE to read Katherine’s full blog.
If you’re a mom (or even not a mom) do you ever feel like Katherine? Unsatisfied, or pulled in too many directions?
