Katherine Heigl prefers Mormon roots in Utah to LA
Actress Katherine Heigl and her husband Josh Kelley have a new life on a ranch just an hour from Salt Lake City.
The Emmy-Award winning actress (Grey’s Anatomy) married her singer/songwriter beau the day before Christmas in 2007 in Deer Valley, Utah.
“I didn’t want to live together before we were married. I still have enough Mormon in me — not a lot, but enough — that I wanted to keep that a little bit sacred,” Heigl told “Vanity Fair” in 2008.
For an actress who has twice been voted the Most Sexiest and once the Most Desirable Woman in the World, she is now juggling family, career, and the ranch.
While her new television series State of Affairs shoots in Los Angeles, she recently spent time in Ogden shooting Jackie & Ryan, which just opened at the Venice Film Festival.
Had the best time in Ogden over the winter shooting Jackie & Ryan with Ben Barnes @la_Biennale http://t.co/rxfKKyUYur pic.twitter.com/fce6feH5XS
— Katherine Heigl (@KatieHeigl) August 31, 2014
Heigl explains that her family found strength from the Mormon Church after the death of her 15-year-old sibling Jason in 1986. Prior to that her parents were Catholic and Lutheran and the accidental death was devastating but they found an answer in the Mormon church.
She also believes the church has provided a strong foundation for herself: “That structure and discipline was really good for me,” Heigl told Good Housekeeping. “I had a childhood that was a childhood. I listened to my parents. I respected the rules.”
That deeply-ingrained value system now serves her well as she raises her two adopted daughters Adalaide and Naleigh on the ranch.
So why does Heigl prefer Utah to L.A.?
“Up here, the other kids are just kids,” she says. “They’re the children of working parents and families with ranches and cattle and horses, living normal lives, celebrating normal moments.”
So clearly normal for Heigl means a healthy love for animals because she has 9 horses, 2 miniature horses, 2 pygmy goats, 2 donkeys, 10 chickens, 8 dogs and 3 cats! It’s a wonder she has time for Hollywood.
Two women with one goal. No compromises. http://t.co/aDAOhktj5F #StateOfAffairs pic.twitter.com/iE9BpbuV8U
— Katherine Heigl (@KatieHeigl) August 29, 2014