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Katherine Heigl shares how she was 'totally naive' about adoption

Growing up with an adopted sister inspired the "Grey's Anatomy" alum to adopt two children.
/ Source: TODAY

Katherine Heigl's older sister, Meg, was adopted from South Korea. So the actress learned from a young age to look beyond skin color.

“I just believed that love is love — it doesn’t matter what we look like,” the “Firefly Lane” actor told Parents. “But then when I asked my sister, Meg, if she had been treated one way when she was out in public without our parents and a different way when she was out by herself without them, she said, ‘Oh yeah, all the time!’ That made me realize I had been so naïve.”

Katherine Heigl and her family posed for the April cover of Parents magazine.
Katherine Heigl and her family posed for the April cover of Parents magazine.William Shirakawa for PARENTS

The “Grey’s Anatomy” alum said she initially felt “angry” with herself.

“But I had to calm down and realize, OK, this isn’t about how it makes me feel,” she explained. “It’s about how I need to protect my daughters and prepare them for the world, because I can’t change society in one fell swoop.”

Heigl and her husband, singer Josh Kelley, are parents to Naleigh, 12, Adalaide, 8, and Joshua, 4. The couple adopted Naleigh in 2009 from South Korea when she was 9 months old. Adalaide was adopted domestically and joined the family in 2012.

Lately, Naleigh and Adalaide have been asking questions about their birth stories.

“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,'” Heigl revealed. “'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.'”

Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley and their three children live in Utah.
Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley and their three children live in Utah. William Shirakawa for PARENTS

Heigl’s crew currently lives on a Utah ranch with a menagerie of foster dogs, horses and chickens. There’s no question Heigl and Kelley, 41, will add more animals to the mix, but they’re all set in the kid department.

“Before the pandemic, I thought that we need one more child to complete this home,” Heigl shared. “I wasn’t sure if we would go the foster care route or adoption or maybe another pregnancy. But now I have completely changed my mind. I am very content with my three!”