Katherine Heigl Shares Post-Op Photo After Surgery to Relieve ‘Most Excruciating Pain’

Katherine Heigl shared a major health update with her Instagram followers this week, revealing that she underwent surgery for a herniated disc in her neck. On Wednesday, she posted a trio of photos of herself, beginning with a shot in which she sat on a bed holding a bag of Fritos with a brace on her neck and a shamrock balloon by her side. The other images included a hospital selfie and x-rays of her neck.

“Well…I am now bionic!!” Heigl declared in her caption, sharing that two titanium disks “now inhabit my neck.” She posited that she “can probably stand on my head for like hours…I’m not gonna try it just yet but give me a few months and I’ll blow your mind!!” Heigl continued by writing that she is “deeply, deeply grateful to the incredible Dr’s and care team that saved me from the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced and blessed me with a new pain free lease on life!”

“I really feel like they deserve a big giant shoutout of gratitude and appreciation so I’m gonna give it to them!” she continued, tagging Dr. Robert Watkins and Cedars-Sinai Marina Del Ray Hospital. The 42-year-old concluded her post by wishing her followers a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. “Oh and HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!” she wrote. “Clearly I’ve been blessed with the luck of the Irish today!” Heigl had previously briefed her followers on her health issues in a post last week, sharing a video of her husband, Josh Kelley, humming along with a coffee maker as his wife laughed. “First trip since the start of the pandemic is back to LA to deal with a herniated disk in my neck,” she captioned the clip. “Thank God for @joshbkelley for not only coming with me to hold my hand but for providing me with some very much needed comedic relief! I mean…only Josh can or would harmonize with the coffee maker!”

Her next post was a video of Kelley in a doctor’s office, sitting in front of a screen displaying x-rays of Heigl’s neck and skull. “Well, ma’am, got some bad news,” he told her. “Your bran is absolutely gorgeous!” This video’s caption read, “Another @joshbkelley gem. This is definitely the guy you want by your side during a health crisis. Though…I don’t think I’d bring him to the OB with me. Those jokes would just be too far.”