Sara McGinnis
posted in Celebrities
Katherine Heigl hasn't had much luck getting her career and motherhood to mix. Speaking to Good Housekeeping magazine, the former Grey's Anatomy actress admitted being away from her daughters while on set just didn't sit well with her.
"I would come home angry and frustrated that I'd missed everything with my kid that day," the 35-year-old star, who is mom to adopted daughters Naleigh and Adelaide, explained. "I didn't get to wake her up from her nap, or do bath time or bedtime. I'd have to sneak into her room and kiss her when she was sleeping, hoping not to wake her up."
"I felt like my priorities were messed up," she added. "I was putting so much time and energy into just my work, but I was raised [to believe] that family comes first."
Speaking of the quiet years she took off from television and movie-making, Katherine Heigl added, "Naleigh would go off to her ballet classes and other stuff, and I would sit with the baby at home. I would read, and she would lie on my chest, and we'd lie on the couch with, like, four dogs, and watch Friday Night Lights. I found it so peaceful."
Despite enjoying that time period, the actress is returning to television as a CIA analyst in NBC's State of Affairs, due to premiere in November.
Although I don't know anything about what it's like to be an actress, I can commiserate on the idea being a working mom makes for some complicated emotions. When I waitressed evenings at a diner I fought back tears at my boys' bedtime for months, feeling deep down in my body that I wasn't where I was supposed to be.
Now, as a work-at-home-mom, I rather enjoy my job -- at least, most months of the year. When my boys are in school and I have time to hold a thought in my head during the day I like using my brain (not to mention earning some income), but it'd be a lie to say the summer months aren't hard. Constantly trying to multitask being a mom and being productive with my writing makes me -- exactly as she said -- angry and frustrated. I hate not being able to focus on either role, and thus end up feeling I'm not doing well at everything.
This summer we have the boys enrolled in some summer camp activities, so it's not been terribly bad, but I still totally get where Katherine Heigl is coming from.
Have you been a working parent? What words best describe how you feel about it?
Photo: BEImages/Jim Smeal
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