Hayden Panettiere Nearly Destroyed Her Life And Career When She Was Young

Hayden Panettiere has had a long and successful career as both an actor and a model. Given her early origins in the industry (she started at 11 years old) it’s easy to assume that Hayden has an easy time being in the spotlight. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.

According to People, Hayden has struggled with a number of issues that could have put her career and even her life in jeopardy. Here’s what happened and how Hayden has been able to rise above and come out the other side stronger and healthier than ever.

6/6 Everything To Know About Hayden Panettiere

Hayden was born in Palisades, New York, about half an hour north of New York City.

From her early childhood, she was raised in the entertainment industry. She appeared in commercials as a baby. She modeled for magazine advertisements. Then, when she was a kid, she started getting acting roles, featuring in soap operas such as ‘One Life To Live’ and ‘Guiding Light’.

However, her career really took off in the movie industry. As a child, she had roles in films including ‘A Bug’s Life’, ‘Remember The Titans’, and ‘Bring It On: All Or Nothing’. As an adult, she became an A-list actress. She starred in movies such as ‘Scream 4’, and was a main character in the hit TV shows ‘Heroes’ and ‘Nashville’.

Other ventures have included modeling, singing, and social activism. Recently, she’s offered a lot of support on social media regarding the conflicts in Ukraine.

5/6 Hayden Had A Tough Childhood

Contrary to popular belief, a person can have a rough childhood despite not growing up poor.

While she wasn’t born into a rich family, Hayden was already wealthy by the time she was in high school due to her acting and modeling career.

Hayden’s discussed the troubles of being famous at a young age. The attention can be overwhelming. She’s claimed that she noticed people waiting for her to slip up, specifically when it came to getting into trouble. She even once claimed that some people in the industry offered her illegal substances when she was a young teenager.

4/6 Hayden Had Some Rocky Relationships

Hayden Panettiere has had a long list of bad exes.

Starting at the age of 18, she entered into a relationship with someone eleven years older than her. The relationship was with her co-star on ‘Heroes’ Milo Ventimiglia. Many people were critical of that relationship due to the large age difference. Milo himself has stated that they weren’t the best couple in hindsight.

After that short fling, Hayden went on to date her longtime lover, Ukranian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. They were together for ten years, and during that time Hayden slowly fell off the Hollywood radar. This was primarily due to her postpartum depression. While Wladimir supported her struggles, their relationship was on and off for ten years before finally ending in 2018.

While those two relationships weren’t terrible by any means, the latest public relationship Hayden’s been in was certainly troubling. Brian Hickerson started dating her in 2018, shortly after her relationship with Wladimir ended. Not even a year into their relationship, in May 2019 a domestic violence incident occurred in the middle of the night. This resulted in Brian going to jail and having to pay a hefty fine. He had to serve a full jail sentence when he was arrested for another domestic violence incident in 2020.

It was during this time that Hayden started messing around with illegal substances, and it’s not hard to see what made her start using them in the first place.

3/6 Hayden Struggled With Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression is something that a lot of mothers have to deal with. Even famous and successful women have to deal with it as well. In Hayden’s case, postpartum depression not only almost derailed her career but also spoiled the relationship with her child.

One positive to come out of this situation is that Hayden has used her fame as a platform to speak out on postpartum depression. That can help many mothers see that they have someone else that’s going through the same things they’re going through, as well as getting attention for research purposes.

2/6 Hayden Struggled To Get Acting Roles

Hayden was appearing in hit role after hit role for many years before her child was born in 2014. While her appearances in movies slowed down in 2011, that was mainly due to her lead role in Nashville. However, outside of maintaining that role until the show shut down in 2018, she hasn’t gained nearly any roles in any medium at all.

That’s primarily due to the birth of her daughter Kaya. Not only did being a mother take a lot of time out of her life, but the postpartum depression she suffered really caused her to take a break from acting. Her most notable role since her daughter was born would be in the video game ‘Until Dawn’.

Nowadays, she still doesn’t appear in many movies. Hayden cites a lack of acting opportunities as the reason why. She’s mentioned in the past that many people saw her as a blonde cheerleader type and that getting older makes it harder for her to get the roles she wants.

1/6 How Is Hayden Doing Now?

It appears that Hayden has recovered from most of her personal problems.

She naturally overcame her postpartum depression, but still had to deal with the aftermath of its effects. That includes dealing with the custody rights for her daughter, which she willingly gave up in 2016.

She does have a new role in the newest Scream movie that’s set to release in 2023, where she’ll reprise her role as Kirby Reed.

A message from #WladimirKlitschko on the ground in #Ukraine #HoplonInternational \u2066@Klitschko\u2069 pic.twitter.com/13BE3VUxjc— Hayden Panettiere (@haydenpanettier) April 22, 2022