The US actress has passed away aged 36
Hayden Panettiere (Image: Ian West/PA Wire)
Hayden Panettiere opened up about giving up custody of her daughter while battling addiction in one of her last interviews before her death at aged 36.
A spokesperson for the American actress, best known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville, confirmed her passing on Monday, August 17.
In a statement they confirmed her family would cherish her memory as an “incredible light” who brought “immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her”.
In one of her final discussions, Panettiere sat down with parenting publication Mome for its July cover story.
She spoke to the publication about the life-threatening birth of her daughter Kaya, 11, and her subsequent decision to hand over custody to her former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, 50.
While battling substance addiction in 2018, the actress took the difficult step of signing over custody of her daughter to her ex, a Ukrainian former boxer who was residing in a different country to Panettiere at the time.
She said: “It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, nor was it a decision I even wanted to make.
“I was going through a really challenging time in my life… I knew I needed to be able to put her first so that I could get the help I needed and be the mum she needed me to be.”
After Kaya’s birth in 2014, Panettiere recalled suffering a severe haemorrhage after undergoing seven blood transfusions and surgery to repair failing blood vessels.
She said: “I closed my eyes and just prayed for my daughter to be OK. I truly was ready to go if it was my time. Kaya being safe and healthy was all that mattered.”
Yet days afterwards, she remembered feeling “nothing” when she looked at her daughter and went on to develop postnatal depression. The actress subsequently turned to alcohol.
She said: “I turned to wine, which ultimately ended up leading to an alcohol dependency. It was how I would get through each day.”
Despite receiving treatment, Panettiere believed the “root cause” of her drinking was depression and it remained unaddressed.
She admitted: “I wish more people had known what it was at the time. Maybe I wouldn’t have waited so long to get help.”
Six years after giving up custody, Panettiere discussed her present day relationship with her daughter.
She said: “I love my daughter, and I’m so proud of the young woman she is becoming. I talk to her all the time, and I feel so connected to her. She’s like a mini-me.”
The actress continued, saying she had “been able to put her first no matter how I’ve felt or what I’ve experienced” and expressed hope that one day Kaya would “understand my story and why I wasn’t able to be with her all the time”.
She then described herself as “resilient” and a “work in progress”, adding that she was “doing the work and doing my best”.
Earlier this year, Panettiere published her memoir titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she also explored being separated from her only child.
She penned: “Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life, and it’s hard to describe the layers of emotion – including sadness, resentment, and anger – I’ve felt because of it.
“I grieve that I’m not the mother I thought I’d be and definitely not the mother I want to be (trust me, no one should ever have to raise a child on FaceTime), and although I miss Kaya so much my heart aches, I know how blessed I am to be her mom.
“She is the greatest gift of my life, with all the best parts of her fatheand me.”
Following the announcement of Panettiere’s passing, her father Skip released a statement describing her as “an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her and to the millions who watched her onscreen”.
He further requested that the family be afforded privacy as they “take time to process this unimaginable loss”.
No cause of death has been announced.
