Hayden Panettiere is coming clean about the rumors regarding her and her 11-year-old daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko.
The “Bring It On: All or Nothing” star welcomed her only child with her ex-fiancé and former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko back in 2014. The two had been dating since 2009 and got engaged months before she gave birth.
But the year after welcoming their child, Panettiere struggled with postpartum depression. She sought treatment by checking herself into a facility. Though they tried to make their relationship work, the actress and boxer ended up splitting in 2018. Some say her life has spiraled since.
That same year, Panettiere signed over custody of their daughter to Klitschko and the two moved to Ukraine.
Now the “Nashville” star is addressing speculation that she simply “gave up” her daughter.
In a May 11 interview on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, she talked about making that tough decision and her experience with postpartum depression.
She told Shetty, “I mean, the idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and the postpartum and having to act my way through just feeling like I had completely lost myself,” Panettiere continued.
Panettiere started in the acting business at just 11 months old, doing commercials. She later starred in the soap opera “One Life to Live” around age 4.
But one of her most recognizable films was “Remember the Titans,” which she appeared in at age 10 alongside Denzel Washington and Will Patton.
Around 13, Panettiere went to parties, and it was there that she started being served alcohol.
She claimed at age 15, someone started giving her “happy pills” — drugs that she said were similar to Adderall — to make her more peppy for red carpet appearances and interviews. It’s not clear if she took those often or for how long.
While on the series “Heroes,” a 16-year-old Panetierre would drink and occasionally take opioids. Fast forward to age 25, after having her daughter, she relied heavily on alcohol to get her through postpartum depression.
Debunking claims about her journey to being sober, she said, “I think a misconception is that I have been, in the past, forced into treatment when, in fact, I have been the one who has sought it out. Who was saying I desperately need help?”
Panettiere explained that even though neither her, her fiancé, nor the people around her could understand what was going on with her, they were supportive of her seeking help.
As she continued to struggle, she said Klitschko thought it would be best for their daughter to live with him in Europe. It was a suggestion she didn’t easily accept.
“When that first happened, I did not have a good reaction to it,” Panettiere said. “I went like mother lion. I would have burnt the world down for my child. So that was incredibly difficult.”
Initially, she couldn’t cope with the concept of being away from her child, recalling an “intense feeling or multiple feelings really like layered together.”
Panettiere explained that her daughter had already built a “beautiful life” in Europe by the time she had gotten healthy. She had friends, family, hobbies and even understood and spoke the language.
So Panettiere realized, “it would have been unfair of me and selfish of me to try to pull her out away from this life that she had been created.”
She said they deepen their “intense bond” through FaceTime conversations about “deep things.
Panettiere previously stated that her child no longer lives in Ukraine in 2022. She claimed she flies in to see her all the time, even though the part of Europe where the child’s father, Wladimir Klitschko, is known to be is an active war zone.
On TMZ’s repost of Panettiere interview fans left heartfelt comments for the actress.
One person said, “Very selfless of her.”
Another person commending her typed, “Oh wow I had no idea she did that. Props to her for focusing on her health and knowing that her child deserved a happy healthy lifestyle..”
Someone else wrote, “Takes a lot of courage to do that. Salute.”
It’s seems in later years, Panettiere has taken the private route when it comes to posting her daughter. The last post she seems to have made of her was back in 2017. Klitschko takes the same approach and doesn’t have his daughter posted at all.
subject she also touches on in her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” which is set to be released on May 19.
