London: Katherine Heigl has admitted that when she first adopted her daughter, the two didn`t click instantly and the baby had formed an instant connection instead with her husband Josh Kelley.
The former `Grey`s Anatomy` star adopted the now four-year-old Naleigh from Korea in 2009 when she was 10 months old, and Heigl confesses to feeling heartbroken by the initial rejection.
"People are always talking about the strong bond between mother and daughter, this magical connection - but we didn`t have that. (It was) the hardest time in my life... I fought incredibly hard for my daughter to accept me as (her) mother. Her rejection almost broke my heart," the Daily Express quoted her as telling German publication Bild am Sonntag in an interview.
The actress reveals the experience was made even more painful by the fact that the young child immediately took to singer Kelley.
"At first I blamed myself and thought I was a bad mother. It took a while before I could admit to myself that the lack of trust had nothing to do with me," she said.
ANI