Hayden Panettiere was on a downward spiral during her acting career and turned to drugs and alcohol.
The 32-year-old “Heroes” star revealed she had a secret opioid addiction and suffered from alcoholism as well as postpartum depression.
“I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” she recently told People. “I would have thought I’d hit rock bottom, but here’s the door opening.”
Panettiere shares daughter Kaya, 7, with ex Wladimir Klitschko, a Ukrainian boxer, and sought help for her health battles on behalf of her family after years of public drama.
“I put a lot of work into myself and I had to be prepared to be incredibly honest,” she revealed.
The “Nashville” alum has been attending both trauma therapy and inpatient treatment for the past year to help her heal. She’s even set to make a comeback with Scream 6, portraying her character from the teen horror franchise, Kirby Reed.
Panettiere explained how her sobriety “hasn’t been easy.”
“There were a lot of ups and downs,” she said. “But I don’t regret even the ugliest things that have happened to me. I feel incredibly accomplished. And I feel like I have a second chance.”
Panettiere opened up about her struggles with drugs and alcohol in a new profile in People magazine. Noluen Cifuentes
The mother-of-one also recalled how, when she was a teenage star, her camp would give her “happy pills” before attending red carpet events.
“They had to tease me during interviews,” Panettiere looked back. “I had no idea it wasn’t the right thing to do or what kind of door it would open for me when it came to my addiction.”
She then noted that despite the drugs and alcohol, her Hollywood career was growing. “My saving grace is that I couldn’t be messy while I was on set and working,” said the “Ice Princess” actress. “But things kept spiraling out of control [off set]. And as I got older, drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.
Panettiere began dating Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2009, and the two have a 7-year-old daughter named Kaya.
After landing her role as country singer Juliet Barnes on Nashville in 2012, her postpartum depression set in and her alcohol addiction worsened. Her pregnancy was also written into the musical drama series.
“Those were really tough years,” Panettiere recalls. “I can relate to a lot of these storylines like alcoholism and postpartum depression. They hit close to home.
She would later start a relationship with Klitschko, now 46, in 2009 and said their courtship began to falter when she slipped away to drink. “He didn’t want to be around me,” she said. “I didn’t want to be around me. But with opiates and alcohol, I would do anything to feel happy for a moment. Then I would feel worse than before. I was in a cycle of self-destruction.
“I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” the Nashville alum said. “I’d think I’d hit rock bottom, but then there’s this door that opens.” NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Her drinking increased and she was hospitalized with jaundice and her liver was about to “fail”. She later sent Kaya to live with Klitschko in Ukraine so she could recover.
Panettiere has mostly stayed out of the limelight for the past few years amid ongoing issues with boyfriend Brian Hickerson, whom she started dating in 2018.
The two got into an on-camera fight in March after having drinks at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, California.
The couple got into a previous physical altercation in Los Angeles in May 2019, which led to Hickerson’s arrest on felony domestic violence charges. At the time, he was ordered to stay 100 yards from Panettiere. However, the case was dismissed in October of that year, and Hickerson was rearrested and charged with domestic battery in 2020.
The former child star also checked into rehab for eight months and credited their program with giving her the tools to “get over the hump” of her addictions.
“It’s a daily choice and I check with myself all the time,” Panettiere said. “But I’m so grateful to be a part of this world again and I’ll never take it for granted again.”
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