This week on the Tonight Show Katharine Heigl had emotional moments, choking up as she talked about her brother passing away.

Said Heigl, “I don’t know how to explain it, it’s so strange, but anytime I see a film or a television show that has to deal with anything tragic or hard or difficult between a mother and a child, my whole — my reaction is — I used to just watch it and feel empathy and now I feel like, ‘Oh my god..’”

Heigl talked about how she has a deeper perspective on what it means to be a mother, as she raises her young child and imagines how it must have felt for her mother, when Katharine’s brother died 20 years ago.