Hayden Panettiere is best known for her lead role as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero series ‘Heroes’. In her acting profile, she has also earned two nominations for the Golden Globe Award.
For the first time, Panettiere is opening up about a secret addiction to opioids and alcohol which nearly cost her her career and life.
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Hayden Panettiere Underwent Intense Therapy To Overcome Addiction And Depression
The ‘Nashville‘ star opened up to People about the years she spent battling addiction as well as a devastating bout with postpartum depression. She said, “I was on top of the world and I ruined it. I’d think I hit rock bottom, but then there’s that trap door that opens.”
Eventually, Panettiere, who shares a seven-year-old daughter Kaya with her ex Wladimir Klitschko, got determined to get help. “I put a lot of work into myself and I had to be willing to be incredibly honest,” revealed the actress. She underwent both trauma therapy and inpatient treatment within the last year. Now she has returned to set to reprise her fan-favorite character Kirby Reed in the next ‘Scream’ film.
“This hasn’t been easy and there were a lot of ups and downs,” said Panettiere of her journey to sobriety and happiness. “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.”
The former model is pouring her heart into her work with Hoplon International, the charity she founded in March whose mission is to raise funds for Ukraine as the country endures its fifth month of war with Russia.
Panettiere Was Being Fed “Happy Pills” As A Child Actor
The American actress was a star by the age of 11. After her roles on soap operas and in ‘Remember the Titans,’ she disclosed that someone on her team, when she was 15, began to offer her “happy pills” before she walked the red carpets.
“They were to make me peppy during interviews,” said Panettiere. “I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”
The singer was drinking alcohol and occasionally taking opioids, but meanwhile, her career was flourishing. “My saving grace is that I couldn’t be messy while on set and working,” explained the star, who landed the role of superpowered cheerleader Claire Bennet on ‘Heroes‘ when she was 16. “But things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.”
In 2014, Panettiere was playing a troubled country singer Juliette Barnes in ‘Nashville.’ The actress’s real-life pregnancy was written into the show, and soon it became clear that her character’s inner demons reflected her own.
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