Katherine Heigl couldn’t contain tears over abusive mother role

Katherine Heigl “cried her eyes out” after playing an abusive mother in new film Unforgettable.

The blonde actress takes on the role of jilted, bitter ex-wife Tessa in the new thriller, who struggles watching her former husband (Geoff Stults) settle down with a new woman (Rosario Dawson). While she enjoyed the challenge of playing an unlikeable character, the part did have its downsides – namely having to act nastily to young actress Isabella Rice, who played her daughter.

“That was the hardest aspect by far,” the mother-of-three, who has two adopted daughters and a biological son with husband Josh Kelley, told Britain’s Closer magazine. “I’ve never had to be horrible to a child before. After a scene where I’m cutting her hair and she’s sobbing, I walked straight out of the room and cried my eyes out. It took a while to get it together after that. It felt so wrong and went completely against my nature.”

The 27 Dresses star previously took a break from Hollywood to focus on her family. But when it came to her return to acting, Katherine felt even more confident in her craft, because she learnt so much from motherhood.

“Acting is a lot of drawing out emotions and, until you have children yourself, you can’t really pull on something so powerful and encompassing without having gone through it first-hand,” the 38-year-old actress explained.

“I’m pretty sure I could never have played a mom until I became one myself. Having children has been a huge blessing – it’s given me perspective.”