Hayden Panettiere Dishes On Life After Postpartum Depression Treatment
"I don’t need to be afraid of what people are going to think," the 26-year-old said. "I saw how much people rallied behind me when I was honest, and I didn’t know that honesty could be such a gift.”
Months after taking a hiatus from ABC’s hit show, Nashville, actress Hayden Panettiere is opening up about her battle with postpartum depression and the weight that was lifted off her shoulders after coming forward about it.
“It feels different for me because of things that I’ve gone through recently, over the last year,” she told PEOPLE at the Critics’ Choice Awards. “I’ve really gone, ‘You know what, I’ve been in this industry for so long, forget it!’ I’ve been hiding myself. Just putting out the smiling face, showing people this, and allowing that veil to come down — it’s like a weight off my shoulders.”
“I’m 26 years old. I’m a mom,” she added. “I don’t need to be afraid of what people are going to think. I saw how much people rallied behind me when I was honest, and I didn’t know that honesty could be such a gift.”
“The only important thing to me is that I’m not causing myself pain and discomfort anymore, and I can be a strong woman for my daughter to look up to,” she explained. “It would horrible for me to be going, ‘You can be whomever you want! You can do whatever you want in life!’ yet I was unable to follow the same words.”
Panettiere voluntarily entered treatment for postpartum depression in October after an appearance on Live! with Kelly and Michael, where she discussed how she related to her Nashville character Juliette Barnes, who was going through the same thing. She welcomed her daughter Kaya with fiancé, professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in December 2014.
