Hayden Panettiere
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Hayden Panettiere, 33, has had her fair share of ups and downs in the last few years. Recently, her 28-year-old brother Jansen also died of cardiomegaly or an enlarged heart.


On the bright side, the I Love You, Beth Cooper star is making an acting comeback and has reprised her role in 2023’s Scream VI alongside Courteney Cox, 58, and 20-year-old Jenna Ortega who plays Wednesday Addams in Netflix‘s Wednesday.

But it wasn’t easy getting to this point. After her battle with addiction, Panettiere also struggled with post-partum depression. Here’s how she got back on her feet.

RELATED: What Happened Between Milo Ventimiglia And Hayden Panettiere?


What Kind of Addiction Did Hayden Panettiere Have?

Appearing on the April cover of Women’s Health, Panettiere opened up to the magazine about her past struggles with addiction and post-partum depression. When she moved to Nashville, Texas at age 22, the actress turned to alcohol to deal with the stress of her rising stardom.

“I was being told how to be and how to live by so many people in my life,” she said of constantly working back then. “I wanted certain decisions to be my own, and nobody could stop me. What I put in my body was like an act of defiance.”

She was able to maintain her professionalism on set, but she couldn’t hide from the paparazzi.

“Some people work out. I wish that was my coping mechanism,” Panettiere continued. “Alcohol might make you feel better in that moment, but it makes you feel so much worse the next day, and then you do it all over again.”

It got worse in 2014 after giving birth to her daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko — a time when she felt “extreme hopelessness” and “like all the walls are closing in.”

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At that time, her old neck injury also flared up, which resulted in her taking opioids.

“I was in a lot of pain,” she recalled. “My tolerance got so high so fast that it became a problem.” She added that she “should have gone on antidepressants [to cope with the postpartum depression], but you have to find the right one that works for you,” because “they don’t mix well with alcohol, and I wasn’t ready to stop drinking.”

She entered rehab in 2015 while shooting Nashville‘s season 4. They even wrote her character as also having post-partum depression, then leaving her child to go to a different country. In real life, the actress was going back and forth between the US and Ukraine with Evdokia’s dad, Wladmir Klitschko. After that, Panettiere left the industry, but she returned to drinking due to crippling anxiety.

RELATED: Amanda Bynes Got Kicked Out Of Her NYC Apartment After Complaints Of How It Smelled

How Did Hayden Panettiere Recover From Addiction?

Soon as she started drinking again, Panettiere’s body started to give up on her. “I struggled with sleep deprivation,” she remembered.

“Sleep is massive. It affects your motor skills, your ability to think, and your overall health.” That’s when she decided to do “a lot of work on myself,” enter a 12-step program, and get “eight months of intensive [trauma] therapy.”

“My body was like, ‘enough,'” she said of the moment that saved her from “drowning” herself. “I hit 30. My face was swollen. I had jaundice. My eyes were yellow. I had to go to a liver specialist. I was holding on to weight that wasn’t normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps.”

How did Hayden Panettiere recover from addiction?
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After her therapy, the former teen star felt like she “had a blank canvas to work with.”

That journey also included reclaiming her body after birth. That’s why she got a breast reduction in November 2022. “My body still didn’t feel like it belonged to me,” she said of her decision. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with somebody who wants to tweak something if it makes them feel more confident. That’s all I have to say about it. My confidence is back.”

Forgiveness was also an important part of her recovery. “A big part of my therapy has been living in forgiveness,” she shared.

“A step in the 12-step program is making amends. If somebody wants to be a good person and to be the best version of themselves, they can choose to do that.”

Now, she’s “looking forward to the day where I get to have these conversations with” her mother who may have also suffered from post-partum issues.

RELATED: A Former Classmate Of Hayden Panettiere’s Says This Is What She Was Like Pre-Fame

How Did Hayden Panettiere Return To Acting?

Speaking to Good Morning America recently, the Heroes alum said that she “willed” her part “back into existence” on Scream VI. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do next,” she said after her 4-year acting hiatus.

“I did have to take those four years off, and thank god I did. I had to work on myself — my mental health, my physical health, my spiritual health.”

What Hayden Panettiere feels about acting comeback in Scream VI
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She continued: “And then when [Scream] popped up and came back around, I was like, ‘I want to be a part of that again because I hoped that Kirby was still alive. I willed her back into existence and I called them.'” She noted that she “actually called them … when they were doing Scream 5 and I was like, ‘Without me?! Wait. Hold on. I might still be alive, and I could come in handy.'”

Panettiere also talked about some similarities between Kirby and herself. “She has that human trauma, and it’s changed her,” she told Women’s Health. “That’s something I can obviously relate to.”

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