Katherine Heigl goes by the name “Katie” among friends and family, in a bid to keep her personal life separate from her work.

The former Grey’s Anatomy star made the admission about her moniker in an interview on The Drew Barrymore Show, as she reflected on the recent news that Anne Hathaway’s nearest and dearest call her “Annie”.

“No one calls me Katherine,” she smiled.

“It sounds much more sophisticated right? Like an adult named Katherine. It helps me separate my work from me if that makes sense. I just had to embrace it,” she explained.

When host Drew asked if she feels like she’s got “those two women running around inside you” – referring to Katherine and Katie – the actress replied: “I do feel that way. I feel like I can present as Katherine when I need to but most of the time I am just Katie.”

Elsewhere in the interview, mother-of-three Katherine admitted she’s like a “drill sergeant” when it comes to allowing Nancy, 12, Adalaide, eight, and Joshua, four, to have some screen time.

Revealing she only recently let them use their screens because Apple has introduced a screentime feature which gave her the “ultimate control” over what her kids can and can’t do on their devices, Katherine added: “I feel like, ‘Okay, I can safely do this now. They can be safe on there and I can be sure they’re safe’.”

– Cover Media