Image Credit: ANDREW ECCLES FOR EWBefore we get to the excerpt from my exclusive Katherine Heigl exit interview/cover story, let’s talk, shall we, about what you’re really here for: what isn’t in that story!

For starters, the Emmy winner does her own dishes!
 I found that out when her musician-husband, Josh Kelley, greeted me at the door of their L.A. abode and ushered me into the kitchen, where Heigl was wrist-deep in suds. Well, she was washing something in the sink before she reached out to shake my hand. I was too busy taking mental notes of my surroundings to know for sure. (OMG, there’s her Emmy in the living room!)

Oh, and she doesn’t live in a mansion. In fact, though the house the couple share with daughter Naleigh is lovely and boasts a lawn with an impressive manicure, it’s pretty modest by Hollywood standards. It’s more homey than mansiony. It was very much in sync with Heigl’s casual appearance that day. In capri jeans and a purple cardigan, with her new brunette locks pulled back and wearing zero makeup, she was still a knockout but hardly the glamourpuss who’d turned so many heads the night before at the ShoWest Awards (even before her wardrobe malfunctioned).

For our Q&A, Heigl poured both of us both some white wine and we retired to her second-floor deck. At one point while we were talking, Kelley interrupted to bring out the biggest cheese-and-cracker platter you have ever seen. All the while, the animal lover’s two dogs milled about inside, her two cats outside, and little Naleigh snoozed.

Too Norman Rockwellian to be true? Maybe. I’m sure some of it was a ploy to butter me up. But I was still feelin’ it. Besides, when it came time to get down to business, neither Heigl nor I pulled any punches. She knew I was going to ask her some tough questions about her departure from Grey’s Anatomy and her overall reputation as a handful, and she answered them with surprising candor. Herewith are just a few snippets from that discussion. For the complete story, pick up the new EW, on sale tomorrow. (Read full post)