Hayden Panettiere Talks About How She Used To Be Addicted To Alcohol And Opioids

There have been many comparisons made between Hayden Panettiere’s (at times) very messy real life and the messy character she played on the ABC drama Nashville, Juliette Barnes. Like Juliette, Hayden is a notably famous person from the entertainment industry who has publicly experienced postpartum issues and toxic relationships. And now Hayden is revealing that, yes, exactly like Juliette Barnes in season four, Hayden too knows what it’s like to have a destructive relationship with drugs and booze.

Hayden explains to People that her substance abuse issues went hand-in-hand with her postpartum issues, which developed shortly after her 7-year-old daughter Kaya was born (she shares Kaya with her ex Wladimir Klitschko, who has primary custody of their daughter). And she says that things just kept getting worse and worse for her as time went on.

For the first time, Hayden Panettiere is opening up about a secret addiction to opioids and alcohol that nearly cost her career – and her life.

“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.”

Clearly, her drug and alcohol use ramped up hard when she was trying to navigate her postpartum situation, but according to Hayden, her experience with opioids started way way back during the Raising Helen years (an unsung garbage masterpiece for sure, but apparently also the beginning of Hayden’s struggles with addiction).

Already a star by the age of 11 after roles on soap operas and in Remember the Titans, Panettiere says she was just 15 when someone on her team began to offer her “happy pills” before she walked the red carpets. “They were to make me peppy during interviews,” says 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.”

But while someone on Hayden’s team was dumping uppers into her palm and telling her “Down the hatch!“, it doesn’t mean 15-year-old Hayden was a full-blown cautionary tale to the youth. I mean, she kind of was – at around 15 Hayden was out partying with the likes of Paris Hilton, who was about 23 or 24 at the time. But Hayden says that she could never be a full wreck on pills and alcohol because she still had to show up to set every day and be a professional for the sake of her job. So, she was able to keep her addiction and issues relatively under wraps.

Paris Hilton and a 15-year-old Hayden Panettiere out clubbing, 2005 pic.twitter.com/6vTc4a21kH

— popculturediedin2009 (@pcd2009) March 8, 2016

And yes, she had a difficult time filming scenes as Juliette Barnes, considering all that shit was going on in her personal life too.

“Those were really tough year. I could relate to a lot of those storylines like the alcoholism and postpartum depression. They hit close to home. I never had the feeling that I wanted to harm my child, but I didn’t want to spend any time with her. There was just this gray color in my life.”

Hayden ended up seeking treatment for her postpartum depression, but she tells People that trying to figure out her mental health made her alcohol dependency worse. At its worst, she was waking up with the shakes and needed sips of booze to get through the day. Eventually, her doctor informed her that her liver was about to give out from the constant alcohol and pill abuse. Obviously, addiction recovery is a full-time, life-long situation that takes dedication and work, but it sounds like Hayden is currently at a spot where she’s got things under control, thanks to eight months of professional intervention at a rehab center.

“I put a lot of work into myself and I had to be willing to be incredibly honest,” says the actress, who underwent both trauma therapy and inpatient treatment within the last year.

“This hasn’t been easy and there were a lot of ups and downs. 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.”

Hayden says she’s been sober since receiving treatment last year. She says that in 2018, she made the decision to allow her daughter Kaya to live full-time in Ukraine with her ex, which was “the hardest thing” she’s ever had to do, but needed to do in order to be a good mom. Now she’s preparing for a comeback as Kirby Reed in next year’s Scream 6. If Hayden is able to bring any of her past experiences to that character, then I think we can accurately guess that she makes it to the end of the movie alive. Ghostface will call her up once, ask what her favorite scary movie is, and Hayden-as-Kirby will effectively distract Ghostface with positive addiction support until police can trace their location. “You seem preoccupied with scary movies. And I notice you’re hiding your face. What is it in your life that scares you? What you’re running from? Is it the 12 steps of recovery? Let’s walk through them together, shall we.”

Pic: People