Katherine Heigl took a step back from Hollywood in the years after leaving Grey’s Anatomy.
“In my 20s, I was sort of at the height of my career, and I was getting to do all the roles I had always wanted to be able to do,” Heigl exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2025. “I started as a child actor but by the time I got into my mid to late teens, you know, I was dying to be the romantic lead. I was dying to do some comedy.”
Heigl, who rose to fame with teen roles in Wish Upon a Star and Roswell, landed her big break in the early 2000s on Grey’s Anatomy. Heigl appeared as Dr. Isobel “Izzie” Stevens from seasons 1 to 6.
After exiting Grey’s, Heigl landed lead roles in blockbuster romantic comedies like Knocked Up, 27 Dresses and Life as We Know It. She most recently returned to TV on Suits and Firefly Lane.
“When I turned 40 I realized, ‘Oh, that’s pretty much over.’ Like, there’s a young generation that’s coming up and I had my time and it was glorious, and it’s kind of done now,” the actress told Us. “And not to say that I can’t be the romantic lead in something at 46 [or] that women in their 40s don’t have a romantic love life or that they aren’t funny or that, you know, they can’t be the lead of a story. Of course they can.”
She continued, “I am still the star of my own life. I find it interesting and compelling. I feel like others would, as well. And I feel like so many women in their 40s and 50s and 60s have compelling, interesting lives that we’d all be interested in seeing.”
Keep scrolling for a glimpse into Heigl’s life after Grey’s Anatomy:
Living in UtahKatherine Heigl has been married to musician Josh Kelley since 2007, during which they expanded their family. The couple adopted daughters Naleigh and Adelaide in 2009 and 2012, respectively, nearly four years before Heigl gave birth to son Joshua in 2016.
By 2023, Heigl and Kelley moved their brood out of Los Angeles.
“I didn’t know how to raise them in L.A., so I felt like I could do it here,” Heigl told E! News in March 2023 of moving to Utah. “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.”
She continued at the time, “I could kind of decompress and let that hustle part of me go — a little bit,” she continued. “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.”
ParenthoodKatherine Heigl has continued balancing her acting role with raising her children in Utah. Naleigh, Adelaide and Joshua have also started to understand their mom’s career.
“We did watch, as a family, the whole three seasons of Roswell, probably five years ago or so,” Heigl told Us in 2025. “That was really fun because I hadn’t seen it since I was like 20 or 21. It was really fun to revisit that time in my life. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, so many crazy memories are coming back.’ It’s interesting to have yourself sort of memorialized that way in your youth or as a teenager or whatever.”
At the time, Heigl also noted that only her 16-year-old daughter, Naleigh, was allowed to watch Grey’s due to its often steamy scenes.
“She’s like, ‘No, I’m good.’ I’m like, ‘OK, I’d prefer not to watch this with you,’” Heigl quipped. “I feel like it would just be so awkward for both of us. There’s a lot of sex in the show and my character’s doing plenty of it. So I’d rather not, quite frankly, but I will if it’s important to you.’ And she’s like, ‘No, I’m good.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, maybe in your 20s.’”
Charity WorkKatherine Heigl and her mom, Nancy, cofounded the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation in 2008 to help rescue animals from high-kill shelters. The mother-daughter pair were later sued by dog rescue founder Alyssa Deetman in 2025, who claimed that her The Pitty Committee organization would take in animals from the Heigls’ nonprofit for a fee.
Katherine and Nancy denied the claims, suing Deetman for defamation and breach of contract.
Katherine’s love of animals also led her to attend the Wine, Women & Shoes benefit supporting Big Dog Ranch House in Palm Beach, Florida, in March 2026.
Nostalgia for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’Katherine Heigl made a rare red carpet appearance at the 2023 Emmy Awards for a special tribute to Grey’s. Heigl reunited with onscreen love interest Justin Chambers, as well as series staples Ellen Pompeo, Chandra Wilson and James Pickens Jr. to hand out the trophy for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
Almost three years later, tragedy struck the Grey’s crew upon Eric Dane’s death. (Dane died at age 53 in February 2026 after battling ALS.)
“I have never been comfortable grieving publicly. I share my tears, my stories and my memories with those I’m closest to and, more times than not, I share them only with the heavens alone,” Heigl wrote via Instagram. “But that silence can often look like a lack of care which I could not abide here.”
Heigl offered her condolences to Dane’s children, Billie and Georgia, whom he shared with Rebecca Gayheart.
“There is so little, if in fact anything, one can say about a tragic loss like yours,” the actress wrote. “All the ‘I’m sorries’ and ‘my prayers are with you’ ring a bit hollow in the midst of so much pain and grief. I will say the only thing that has ever brought me peace when I’ve lost someone I love. It is Robert Frost’s poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay,’ of which I have tattooed on my body in my parent’s handwriting, so I will never forget that the moment of gold was worth it.”
Frost’s poem begins, “Nature’s first green is gold, her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf’s a flower; but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, so Dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.’”
According to Heigl, Dane was akin to “gold” during their Grey’s tenure.
“I will never forget Eric’s gold and I will forever be grateful I got to bask in it for even a brief moment in time,” she concluded at the time. “Thank you for sharing him with us. God Speed my old friend, here’s to your next great adventure.”
Acting After ‘Grey’s Anatomy’Katherine Heigl continued acting after saying goodbye to the hallowed halls of Grey Sloan Memorial, booking gigs in Killers, New Year’s Eve, One for the Money, The Big Wedding, State of Affairs, Jenny’s Wedding, Doubt, Suits and Netflix’s Firefly Lane.
