'Let go of that hustle part of me': Katherine Heigl on why she left Hollywood to raise her children in Utah

Heigl revealed that she didn't know how to raise her children in LA but in Utah, she can get away from the hustle and 'decompress' when she needs to
PUBLISHED MAR 31, 2023
Katherine  Heigl, seen here with husband Josh Kelley and daughter Nancy 'Naleigh' Leigh, has just completed filming the last season of her Netflix series 'Firefly Lane' (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
Katherine Heigl, seen here with husband Josh Kelley and daughter Nancy 'Naleigh' Leigh, has just completed filming the last season of her Netflix series 'Firefly Lane' (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH: Recently, Katherine Heigl said she relocated to Utah because she thought it would be an excellent environment for her children to grow up in. In an interview with E, she said, "I didn't know how to raise them in LA. So I felt like I could do it here. 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!"

Before deciding she wanted to slow down, the 'Life As We Know It' actress spent 20 years living and working in Los Angeles. She departed 'Grey's Anatomy' in 2010. After that, she and her husband, Josh Kelley, relocated to a ranch outside Park City, Utah.

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She said, "I could kind of decompress and let that hustle part of me go—a little bit," she said of her Utah home. "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,"as per reports.

'I'm sure I'll be paying for their therapy, and mine'

In addition to having horses, chickens, goats, and other animals at their ranch, the family also has eight dogs and three cats to keep them company at home. When she travels to a location to film or produce a show, she tells the publication that her children stay home. She said, "I can't easily anymore take them out of school systems and put them into whole new cities and environments," she said. "I had to live with that aspect of what I do for work, I have to leave my family … I call the kids probably two, three nights a week. I'm not FaceTiming every day—I'm at work, having crap cell service or terrible Wi-Fi. You have to be able to let it go." She further added, "I'm sure I'll be paying for their therapy, and mine," as reported by Fox11.

'Just hyper-focus on the world I'm in now'

However, she said when she is back home in Utah, she is "hyper-focused" on her family. Heigl said, "My manager, my agent, my lawyer, they're all like, 'Hey, you should probably read that script we sent you two weeks ago...' I'm like, 'Right, right, right, right...' I just hyper-focus on the world I'm in now."

Actress admitted to preferring 'peaceful life'

Heigl said, "At the moment, it's solely about [her] dog food [company Badlands Ranch], the kids, and the animals." Heigl has completed filming the last season of her Netflix series 'Firefly Lane.' The '27 Dresses' actress admitted to preferring the "peaceful life" in 2014 when speaking to Good Housekeeping. Heigl claimed that she overworked herself while filming 'Grey's Anatomy,' which "messed up" her priorities, as per reports.

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