Katherine Heigl isn’t concerned about her daughters’ lack of interest in Grey’s Anatomy — in fact, that’s just fine by her.
The Firefly Lane star, 46, opened up about why she’s actually grateful for the fact Naleigh, 16, and Adalaide, 13, don’t want to watch the series at this point in their lives while chatting exclusively with Parade amid her partnership with Poise.
“My youngest, my son [Joshua, 8], he’s like, ‘I don’t get it.’ I’m like, ‘Don’t worry about it.’ My daughters, yes, but they’ve never seen the show,” Heigl says. “And I think I said something to Naleigh, my oldest, I said, ‘If you want to watch it, I’ll watch it with you.’ And she was like, ‘No. I really don’t.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, that’s fine. I get it.’ But I know that a lot of kids of her generation are watching it, so I didn’t want her to feel like she’s not allowed.”
She adds: “Quite frankly, it’s just kind of awkward. I don’t know. There’s a lot of sex on that show, and I think that’s weird to watch with my 16 year old, especially when it’s me! I mean, I will watch if that’s important to [her], but I’m kind of glad it’s not.”
Despite her kids’ disinterest in the long-running medical drama, the Emmy winner tells Parade that she carries a part of her character — along with some of her medical knowledge — with her every day. Heigl famously portrayed Dr. Izzie Stevens for six seasons before exiting the series in 2010.
“I do think I’d still be good at sutures,” she says. “I do because that’s like a muscle memory thing, and we had to do a lot of that. Not on real people, but, I think I could give it a go. If anybody needs that, I’ll give it a shot.”
In addition to speaking about her Grey’s knowledge, Heigl got candid about some of the symptoms she started experiencing after giving birth — like bladder leaks — which made her partnership with Poise a no-brainer.
“Post-pregnancy … the old bladder was not working the same. I actually had a cesarean because Joshua was breech and had a really big head,” she explains. “But that is its own slew of postpartum issues and healing. Everything could have changed, just even the way my hips went back into place changed, you know? I do think we need to be more honest with each other about it. I had no idea.”
Heigl also tells Parade all about the Jason Heigl Foundation, which was founded by her and her mom, Nancy Heigl, in 2008 and is dedicated to animal welfare and ending abuse.
“We could always donate to the big foundations and stuff, but we had some specific ideas about where we wanted to see that money go,” she explains. “So we figured, let’s start our own foundation and really try to make the impact that we believe is possible. We’re very, very passionate.”