Katherine Heigl Told Her Adopted Daughters They Can Have 'As Much Or As Little Information' As They Want On Their Backgrounds

Katherine Heigl is more than willing and ready to talk to her two daughters about their adoption.

The star and her husband, musician Josh Kelley, adopted Naleigh, now 12, from South Korea in 2009, and three years later, they adopted Adalaide, now 8, from the U.S. The couple also has a 4-year-old son, Jason.

"They do have more questions as they get older," the Firefly Lane lead told Parents of her two girls. "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. 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."

Heigl's own sister Meg was adopted, and though the Grey's Anatomy alum didn't realize it while growing up, she now understands that her daughters will be faced with white privilege.

"Because I was raised with adoption, looking beyond skin color was the norm for me, and I just believed that love is love — it doesn't matter what we look like," she explained. "But then when I asked my sister, Meg, if she had been treated one way when she was out in public with 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 that I had been so naïve. At first, I got very angry. But I had to calm down and realize, OK, this isn't about how it makes me feel," she recalled. "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."

For a while, Heigl and her husband were eager to expand their family — but then, the coronavirus struck.

"Before the pandemic, I thought that we needed one more child to complete this home," she revealed. "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!"