What's in the anatomy of a marriage? It takes a lot of grey matter to make it work,
but Katherine Heigl and her husband Josh Kelley have an incredible state of affairs.
Katherine Heigl and her husband Josh Kelley began dating in 2005 after Heigl played Kelley's love
interest in his music video for "Only You." Heigl made the first move, recalling to People,
"At the end of the shoot, I said, 'You're gonna go eat dinner with us, and you can't say no.'"
For Heigl, it was love at first sight even though she admitted that starring
as lovers in the romantic video helped. It seems Kelley is just as fond of their
first days together. He posted a photo of them from 2005, writing,
"She came up for my show in New York City
and we had the next day to ourselves to walk around ... What a fun time that was."
As romantic as that sounds, Heigl admitted that there were times in
the beginning when she worried they weren't on the same page.
Because of that, she may have used singer John Mayer to get Kelley's attention. She admitted,
"I didn't know if he was serious about me as I was about him.
I had run into John ... We were just hanging out."
Josh Kelley decided to make things official in 2006 by asking Heigl to marry him.
He wanted the proposal to be romantic so he took her to the exact place where they met
when shooting the "Only You" music video. He told Artisan New Service,
"It took me forever to find that bungalow ... I walked miles and miles until I recognized it."
Once he negotiated with its residents, Kelley had a car pick up Heigl to surprise her. He recalled,
"She had no clue ... I had set a table with a nice white tablecloth,
roses, wine, chocolate cake, the music that we listened to when we started dating."
From the moment they met, Heigl knew Josh Kelley was "the one." Yet Heigl didn't
necessarily believe that saying "I do" meant happily ever after. Despite that, she still
had hope for her and Kelley, and that's why it was important for her to hold a traditional wedding.
It seems tying the knot was just as sacred for Kelley who said that he felt marriage was the
ultimate commitment to your partner. He was also a bit more optimistic about marriage, gushing,
"We're madly in love and she makes me excited to become married and
to have a family and spend my life with someone."
Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley welcomed daughters Naleigh in 2009,
and Adalaide in 2012, through adoption. Then their biological son, Joshua, was born in 2016.
"It's gonna be rough, because he's totally going to be spoiled by all these girls in his life."
Heigl had always wanted to adopt since her sister is from South Korea.
She wanted her new family to represent the one she grew up in.
While Heigl and Kelley live in Utah to keep their children away from Hollywood,
they don't necessarily keep them totally out of the spotlight either,
frequently posting about them on social media. Kelley explained to Daily Blast,
"We decided early on they're going to get their
photos anyway ... we may as well control the narrative."
Becoming parents has seemingly made the couple appreciate each other more, too.
Both celebrities regularly post on Instagram
about their appreciation for each other and their parenting skills.
Although Heigl and Kelley seem to have the perfect marriage,
like any couple, they've faced their challenges. Heigle said to Female First,
"We've had some pretty explosive fights over the years trying to make our marriage work,
but it's been worth it. I do not want to live my life without Josh in it and will
do everything I can to make sure I don't have to."
That appears to be why the couple has found ways to work through their issues,
which at one point was with communication. Heigl confessed to Us Weekly,
"It was just a lack of hearing,
and it was assuming what the other person meant and needed or wanted."
She even gave a specific example of when
she thought just doing Kelley's laundry would make things better.
It didn't but led her to a realization that she should just ask him what would make him happy.
Kelley is also apparently willing to work with Heigl during difficult moments.
She explained on "The Oprah Winfrey Show,"
"And he's so, uh, never let's me get away with it,
but he also doesn't expect me to be perfect all the time.”
Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley credit friendship for helping
make their relationship last over the years. Holding on to their friendship
when things get hard is what helps them overcome difficult obstacles.
The two enjoy doing things together and sharing their interests. Heigl recalled to Cosmopolitan,
"The first summer we were together, we'd have what I'd call our art days.
I love sculpting ... [while Josh] is an amazing artist who paints and draws."
Even after becoming parents, they still make it a priority to enjoy each other's company.
They love watching tv shows together, enjoying cocktails, and just hanging out. And from the
looks of Heigl's Instagram, she and Kelley have no problems in the romance department.
Yet they've had to work at it, especially during the pandemic when like everyone else,
they found themselves spending more time together than they were used to.
They eventually found a solution by finding their own space in a backyard shed, saying,
"We leave the kids, and we try to talk about each other and remember we're not just parents."
Cheating wouldn't necessarily mean the end for Heigl and Kelley's relationship. In an
interview with Cosmopolitan UK, Heigl suggested her views on cheating have changed, revealing,
"Josh and I always said that cheating would be a deal breaker ... But I've seen friends and
acquaintances go through it and they've found a way back to the relationship."
She made it clear though that she wouldn't be okay with Kelley cheating, admitting that if
she caught him cheating, it would destroy her. But she wouldn't want to give up right away, either.
She has claimed that if he did make a one-time mistake, she would forgive him. Heigl explained
that it would not only be because of their long-shared history but because the family
they've created would be worth saving. However, it would be hard to fully ever get the trust back.
With that said, Heigl has no interest in being the cheater, dishing on her blog that she's
always been a "serial monogamist." Yet, she does understand why others are enticed, confessing,
"Every human being on earth wonders if the grass might be greener in other pastures."
But Heigl would rather work on her connection with Kelley instead,
which is more than enough for her. She said,
"I guess the relationship I'm in is so consuming that the idea of
a dalliance with another man sounds exhausting."
Katherine Heigl has a reputation in Hollywood for being difficult to work with.
That negative attention made Heigl anxious, yet she told Good Housekeeping that her husband,
Josh Kelley, helped her work through it.
"I am a strong woman, and I'm not going to apologize for that,
and I'm not going to on behalf of my daughters."
She revealed that one day he suggested that she just commit to being her,
and ignore the rest of it. Kelley is not only encouraging but also very protective of Heigl,
telling The Washington Post in 2015,
"She is probably one of the most grounded,
most amazing people. That girl's never been late, never missed a mark, she's the least
'difficult' person in the world. I've been to every movie set ... and everybody loves her."
Kelley continues to support his wife, pointing out how she was treated unfairly for just speaking
her truth in the mid-2000s, which is something that is usually celebrated nowadays. He told The
Washington Post that these days, defending herself would have given her hero status.
If you've followed Josh Kelley's music career, it's clear that Katherine Heigl
is his muse. It all began back in 2006 when Kelley wrote an ode to his new love at the time called,
"Katie's Song." Heigl revealed that it was one of the most romantic things she had ever experienced.
Since then, their relationship has continued to inspire Kelley's music,
with even a fight they had leading to his song, "It's Your Move."
Heigl not only sparks Kelley's creativity, but she's also starred in several of his music
videos from 2005's "Only You," to 2017's "I'm On Fire," and 2019's "Busy Making Memories." He even
gave her a shoutout when promoting his 2022 song "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" on Instagram.
Yet Heigl doesn't just use her acting skills to help Kelley, she's also directed some of
his videos too, including "I'm On Fire" and "Naleigh Moon." When it comes to collaborating
with his wife, Kelley praises her saying that she's more talented than he'll ever be. Heigl
likewise finds her husband just as talented, frequently promoting his music on Instagram.
Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley have a combined net worth of $35 million,
with Kelley bringing in about $5 million of that from his music career.
With her net worth of $30 million though, it's clear Heigl is the family's breadwinner.
Heigl made her original fortune when she starred in "Grey's Anatomy" and when she
did a string of romantic comedies in the mid-2000s. Not only was she the highest-paid
TV actress at the time, but she was making between $12-$15 million for her movies.
These days, the couple is into real estate, having bought and sold a
few homes in Los Angeles. In 2008, Heigl sold a house for $1.75 million
after she and Kelley had purchased a four-bedroom home together the year before for $2.55 million.
They later sold that in 2013 for $2.62 million. These days, their family lives on a sprawling
20-acre ranch in Utah, which includes a barn, game room, and dressage arena.
It appears that while Heigl likes to buy designer clothes and shoes, it's more important for her to
give back. In 2019, she sold some of the luxury items from her closet on Poshmark
to raise money for her charity Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, which advocates for animals.
Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley share a passion for animals. Currently, her family has six dogs,
three cats, and plenty of animals on their sprawling ranch. For Heigl, her love of animals
started young, telling People, that she was surrounded by animals from the day she was born.
While Kelley also adores pets, Heigl admits she takes it to the extreme. She joked,
"If you're talking from one to 10,
I'm like a 40 and Josh is probably like an eight. I'm insane and he's normal,"
Because of that, Kelley sometimes needs more convincing when it comes
to adding more dogs to their home. For example,
when Kelley originally shut down getting their sixth dog, Heigl confessed to Harper's Bazaar,
"I started crying. I said, 'Where's your heart? Where's your soul?'...and
he's like, 'Fine, just take the dog.'"
All in all, Heigl may want more pets and the couple could hit more hard times,
but so far their marriage appears to be strong enough to handle it all.