Janice Milliman, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:

Katherine Heigl is known for her beauty, her starring role on Grey's Anatomy, and most recently, her foray into romantic comedy leads. Unfortunately, she is also known for cigarette smoking, even while signing autographs for kids.

Heigl tried to quit the habit several times using patches, nicotine gum, and Chantix. Now she's using the electronic cigarette (e-cig) as a replacement and quitting aid. Her main motivation to quit? A newly adopted beautiful daughter. "The one thing I would say to my kid is, "It's not just that it's bad for you. Do you want to spend the rest of your life fighting a stupid addiction to a stupid thing that doesn't even really give you a good buzz?'"

On The Late Show with David Letterman she contradicts the "stupid addiction" comment and talks about how much safer the e-cigs are for her health, and of those around her. When Letterman asks if she's addicted to the device, she says, "Oh yea, I'm totally addicted... But it's not bad for you, so it's a fun addiction."

While e-cig safety is unproven and controversial, Heigl is still exposing her daughter to the smoking behavior.

In the November/December 2010 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, Editor Michael O'Donnell addresses some of the reasons why his brother, and others like him, start smoking in the first place. "...kids who have at least one parent who smokes when the kids are 12 or younger are 360 times more likely to smoke than kids whose parents do not." 360 times! A shocking statistic.

Stress is reportedly Heigl's biggest trigger for smoking, which is very common among smokers. I hope, in addition to the e-cig, that Heigl has found other productive ways of managing stress. E-cigs, just like cigarettes, don't actually reduce stress. Cigarettes mask, distract, and delay our emotional response during times of stress. Unfortunately, if there aren't other stress management strategies, the stress is never truly addressed and so quickly returns.

Quitting is very difficult for most people, so I give Heigl kudos for all the times she tried, for not giving up, and for her success. As a mother I can identify with Heigl wanting to protect her daughter's health and be a positive role model.

Unfortunately, however, her daughter may not understand or differentiate a real cigarette from the e-cig. She will understand the pattern of mommy putting a smoking object up to her mouth when she looks upset. Kids not only learn how to manage stress through adult role models, unfortunately, they also learn how to smoke.