- She has won the Jerome Robbins Award, the Dance Magazine Award, the L'Oreal Shining Star Award, the Lions of the Performing Arts Award from the New York Public Library, among others.
- Was especially inspired to dance after seeing a New York City Ballet performance with Edward Villella and Suzanne Farrell.
- Had a long time personal relationship with Peter Martins. They were friends, lovers, confidants and collaborators.
- She won two Derek Bok awards for distinguished teaching of ballet at Harvard.
- Peter Martins personally selected her as the first ballerina to dance the world premiere of his very first work as a choreographer, "Calcium Light Night".
- She had a longtime relationship with fellow NYCB disciple Peter Martins. They were not only lifelong friends, they were on-again/off-again lovers, even sharing an apartment together at one point. They finally broke up for good in 1990.
- She partnered with the highly-celebrated and sought-after Mikhail Baryshnikov when she danced at the White House in a national televised performance of Balanchine's Rubies for President Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter.
- Her mother took her to a drama class. The coach thought she was had a dramatic streak, but was clumsy and suggested ballet lessons. She started at the age of 13.
- She received a Doctorate in Fine Arts (honoris causa) from Hunter College.
- Her original childhood ambition was to be an actress.
- The character of Michelle Simms in the TV show "Bunheads" was inspired by her.
- George Balanchine not only partnership between her Jock Soto, but that of her and her husband, Damian Woetzel.
- Her very last performances before he retirement were Balanchine's "Bugaku" and Peter Martins's "Valse Triste".
- She remarks that she took dance lessons to develop "what people used to call poise".
- Ballet Master George Balanchine remarked that he imminently accepted Watts into his School of American Ballet and New York City Ballet because, "I would not let such a talent disappear".
- She was an AIDS activist and a founding member of Gods Love We Deliver in the 1980's.
- She once had a golden retriever, Q, named for the cable network, Q.V.C.
- She decided she wanted to be a professional ballerina after appearing as a bug in a performance of Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that N.Y.C.B. gave in Los Angeles at eleven.
- She danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in George Balanchine's production of The New York City Ballet's "Nutcracker" with longtime lover Peter Martins as her Cavalier.
- She has a clefted chin.
- She refers to herself as "an old hippie".
- Though she has shown a flair for costume design and displayed sharp management skills--she organized Principal Dancers of the New York City Ballet, a group that has visited ninety cities--Watts insists she will quit the dance world cold turkey.
- Prima Ballerina Gelsey Kirkland wrote of her brush with Watts in her first autobiography "Dancing on My Grave". While she was dating Peter Martins, she found them together in bed as she still had the key to his apartment. She continuously tormented Gelsey in order to break them up. When Peter found out of this, he got violent with her. They broke up as Mikhail Baryshnikov had invited her to dance with him at the American Ballet Theatre. Peter returned to Heather.
- She is a reformed smoker.
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