Hayden Panettiere is opening up about the custody of her daughter Kaya.
Appearing on the latest episode of Facebook Watch's "Red Table Talk," the 33-year-old actor shared details about the "very upsetting" experience of having to relinquish custody of her only child to ex Wladimir Klitschko.
Signing the custody papers was "the most heartbreaking thing I've ever had to do in my life," Panettiere admitted to co-hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and guest host Kelly Osbourne.
"You thought this was an agreement that you came to that it was best that your daughter be with her dad," Banfield Norris asked Panettiere during the interview, according to People.
"At first it was not because it wasn't a discussion," Panettiere explained. "If [Klitschko] had come to me and said I think because of where you're at right now and your struggles that you're having it would be good for her to be over here with me for a while — which if I had probably had enough of a conversation I would've said, OK that makes sense, I get it, I'll come there to visit, and stuff like that."
Panettiere noted that "because of the way that it was done, it was very upsetting."
"It was the worst signing those papers, the most heartbreaking thing I've ever, ever had to do in my life," she continued, adding that the papers were to give Klitschko full custody.
"I was gonna go work on myself, I was gonna get better, and when I got better then things would change, and she could come to me, and I could have my time with her but that didn't happen," Panettiere said.
Earlier this year, Panettiere spoke out for the first time about her past addiction to opioids and alcohol. In an interview with People, the former "Nashville" star admitted that her yearslong battle with addiction nearly ended her career and 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," she said.
Then Panettiere became pregnant with Kaya. She had stopped drinking but after giving birth, fell off the rails. Her drinking was in part due to postpartum depression.
"I never had the feeling that I wanted to harm my child, but I didn't want to spend any time with her," Panettiere said. "There was just this gray color in my life."
Her relationship with Klitschko, whom she began dating in 2009, crumbled and eventually, in 2018, Kaya went to live with Klitschko in Ukraine.
"It was the hardest thing I ever had to do," she said. "But I wanted to be a good mom to her — and sometimes that means letting them go."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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