After living in Los Angeles for two decades, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Katherine Heigl decided to raise her family outside of Hollywood, swapping the fast-paced lifestyle for small-town living in Summit County, Utah.
Heigl and her husband, musician Josh Kelley, have made their primary residence in Oakley, where they live in “a big stone-and-wood mountain home,” she recently told Architectural Digest. On her property, you’ll also find a 50-by-50-foot organic garden and an art studio — the Emmy Award-winning actress is preparing to unveil her first solo art exhibition at Park City’s Gallery MAR on May 31, she recently shared on X.
Oakley, a town with a population under 2,000, is roughly a 30-minute drive from Park City and a 50-minute drive from Salt Lake City. Heigl recently opened up about her day-to-day life in the small town, and shared in a Food Diaries segment with Harper’s Baazar where she likes to eat in Utah.
Katherine Heigl shares her favorite restaurants in Utah
In the Harper’s Baazar Food Diaries segment, Heigl reveals her love of Frosted Mini Wheats — saying she sometimes has a bowl for breakfast and lunch.
Since she lives “in the middle of nowhere” and “can’t order anything in,” she said, having cereal for lunch is the easy route — her kids are at school, she doesn’t have to cook and it doesn’t require a lot of cleaning up.
When she goes into the city for groceries, Heigl said she makes a day out of it. Her family will typically dine at Bartolo’s in Park City, an Italian restaurant she described as “simple, but really good.”
Whenever her family makes a trip to Salt Lake City, they always plan on getting sushi at Chopfuku.
“There aren’t like tons of sushi places in Utah, but there are a couple really exquisite ones down in Salt Lake,” she said in the Harper’s Baazar video, which has 655,000 views on YouTube. “So if I’m going to make the trip down to Salt Lake, which is a good hour drive, I always make sure we plan for Chopfuku.”
At home, Heigl said, her husband is the main cook, typically handling breakfast and lunch. But she will usually take care of dinner — chili, spaghetti bolognese and her mother’s meatloaf recipe are some of her go-to meals. Heigl said she also makes a lot of chicken tikka masala and butter chicken because she has “not found great Indian food in Utah.”
“They are probably not as authentically amazing as a restaurant version, but doable,” she said. “I love Indian food.”
After dinner, the “Firefly Lane” star has a go-to treat: a FatBoy ice cream sandwich, which comes from Utah’s very own Cache County.
“I never used to be much of a sweets person, but now every night after dinner, I have to have a FatBoy. ... Is that just a Utah thing?” she said with a laugh.
Katherine Heigl on living in Utah
Heigl has lived with her family in Utah for more than a decade — and it’s a life she said she wouldn’t trade for the world.
“I think my children sometimes wish they were in more of a hubbub-y exciting city,” she previously said on an episode of “Today with Hoda & Jenna.” “But I said to them, ‘I understand that you are sacrificing that in some ways but I still think it was the right choice for us as a family because I am more centered and aware of what’s going on in your life.’
“‘It’s a smaller town, I know who your friends are, I know who you are spending time with, I know what’s up with school,’” she continued. “It’s just easier to keep my finger on the pulse.”
It’s a busy season for Heigl’s family in Utah. All of the proceeds from Heigl’s upcoming art exhibit will support the Jason Debus Heigl Foundation, which is “dedicated to ending animal cruelty and abuse” and honors the memory of her late brother, per Park City’s TownLift News.
Heigl’s husband, Kelley — who is the older brother of Lady A singer Charles Kelley — will perform at the Park City Song Summit in August as part of a robust lineup that also features Mavis Staples, My Morning Jacket and Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats.