Hayden Panettiere opened up about the heartfelt reason she decided to give Wladimir Klitschko custody of their daughter.
US actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville, sadly passed away on Sunday, August 16, at the age of 36 in Southern California. ABC News first shared the news on Monday, August 17, though no cause of death has been announced yet.
Hayden was once in a public relationship with boxer Wladimir Klitschko. She was famously at ringside when he won by knockout on September 11, 2010. They split in May 2011, citing the difficulties of a long-distance relationship, but stayed friends. In 2013, they got back together, announced their engagement in October, and welcomed their daughter in December 2014.
They separated again in 2018, and Hayden gave full custody of their daughter Kaya to Klitschko. She opened up in July’s issue of Mome magazine about this decision, explaining that her struggles with substance addiction played a big role. She said, “It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, or even wanted to make. I was going through a really hard time. I needed to put her first so I could get help and be the mom she needed.”
Back in 2015, on Live! With Kelly and Michael, Hayden spoke about her battle with postpartum depression after having her daughter. She also shared in the Mome interview that she turned to wine as a way to cope, which eventually led to alcohol dependency. “It was how I got through each day,” she admitted.
Six years after giving up custody, Hayden expressed her love for Kaya and pride in who she was becoming, telling the Manchester Evening News, “I talk to her all the time, and she’s like a mini-me.”
But in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, released earlier this year, she revealed how painful being apart from her daughter has been. She wrote, “Not living under the same roof every day has been the hardest thing of my life. The mix of emotions—sadness, anger, resentment—is really tough to explain.”