Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley’s Daughter Naleigh Turns 15: ‘My Perfect Girl’

Mar. 15, 2025

Katherine Heigl with her family.Photo: Katherine Heigl Instagram

Katherine Heigland her husbandJosh Kelleyare celebrating their daughter with a very sweet message.

On Thursday, the27 Dressesstar, 45, shared a birthday tribute as her oldest child, daughterNancy Leigh “Naleigh” Mi-Eun Kelley, turned 15 years old.

While theFirefly Lanestar admitted it was “hard for me to find the words to properly express the depths of my love,” she came up with quite a few touching ways to describe the “beautiful, tender hearted, thoughtful” teen.

“Nothing prepares you forbecoming a mother. There are no books. No podcasts. No courses or professors. I mean sure, you can find guidance but that’s all it is. Guidance,” Heigl explained.

“The actual experience is all that truly educates and that can be…difficult, when you feel you’re learning as you go to properly parent a child. It’s a big responsibility. There is no bigger responsibility in my opinion."

Heigl added that although moments in motherhood have sometimes felt “overwhelming, terrifying, confusing, frustrating, [and] lonely,” she managed to be blessed with a child like Naleigh.

Katherine Heigl’s daughter Nancy.Katherine Heigl Instagram

“I have somehow miraculously ended up with a daughter whose gentle spirit, sense of responsibility and goodness, beauty and patience astounds me.”

“Happy Birthdaymy perfect girl! I’m so incredibly proud of you. I believe so much in you,” Heigl wrote, also wishing the teen aHappy Thanksgiving.

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The couple adopted Naleigh from South Korea in 2009 when she was just an infant. Before she met her new parents, she underwent open heart surgery after being born with acongenital heart issue.

Heigl later shared that she always knew adoption was in her plans for whenever she decided to start a family of her own.

“Josh and I started talking about [adoption] before we were even engaged,” she told Scholastic Parent & Child in 2014. “My sister Meg is Korean, and my parents adopted her three years before I was born.I wanted my own family to resemble the one I came from, so I always knew I wanted to adopt from Korea. We have talked about having biological children as well, but we decided to adopt first. I just wanted to be a mom. So however we do that, it’s fine with me.”

Katherine Heigl with two of her three kids.Katherine Heigl Instagram

TheKnocked Upactress and the musician — who have been married since 2007 — share two other children together.

Their second child, daughterAdalaide Marie Hope Kelley, 11, was adopted from Louisiana in 2012. On Dec. 20, 2016, the couple welcomed their first biological child, sonJoshua Bishop Kelley Jr.

“The Kelley clan is thrilled to announce that we are expecting a third addition to our family,” the couple told PEOPLE in a statement ahead of his arrival. “Naleigh and Adalaide could not be more excited to welcome their new sibling into the fold and Josh and I are overflowing with joy and gratitude.”

source: people.com