Hayden Panettiere opens up about her past battle with addiction

Good news is currently surrounding actress Hayden Panettiere as she is set to reprise her fan-favorite Scream 4 role of Kirby Reed in the next upcoming installment of the franchise. It’s a bit of a new beginning for Panettiere who is now publicly detailing her past battle with addiction and what she has done to come out on the other side of it.

During a new interview with People, Panettiere gets candid about just how bad her addiction to alcohol and opioids got. The actress also battled with postpartum depression which only fueled her addictions even more. Beginning as a child actress, Panettiere became a fixture on television beginning in 2006 when she landed a breakout role on NBC’s Heroes. The actress followed that up with a role opposite Connie Britton in the country music drama, Nashville. Panettiere says these were the “tough years” of her life and she added, “I could relate to a lot of those storylines like the alcoholism and postpartum depression. They hit close to home.”

Panettiere actually says she was offered pills at a very young age by adults in order to perk up when she was making red carpet appearances and doing interviews. She said she was 15 when someone on her team offered her what she called “happy pills” before she would make public appearances. Panettiere added, “They were to make me peppy during interviews. 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.”

Working would keep the actress relatively in check but when she would be off the set, things would spiral out of control. Panettiere says, “My saving grace is that I couldn’t be messy while on set and working. But things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.” Things got so bad at one point that she actually landed herself in the hospital and was told by doctors that her liver was “going to give out.” The actress describes it as a “cycle of self-destruction.”

Her character of Juliette Barnes in Nashville was a troubled country singer and some of it did mirror Panettiere’s real life. Her real-life pregnancy was written into the show and the actress would have her own experience with postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Kaya. The actress said, “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.”

Panettiere remained sober while she was pregnant but once she gave birth, she slipped back into her addictions. She would have to have a sip of alcohol throughout the day just to keep the shakes at bay. According to the actress, “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.”

In order to fight her addictions, Panettiere entered a rehab facility for eight months in order to break the vicious cycle. She also had to go through other trauma and inpatient therapies in order to get her head right but now, at 32 years old, she finally feels at peace and is very hopeful about her future. The actress said, “I put a lot of work into myself and I had to be willing to be incredibly honest.” She also admitted while things haven’t been easy and there are “ups and downs,” she has no regrets about what led her here. Panettiere said, “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.”

Glad to hear that she has found peace and is in a better place. From a professional standpoint, fans are very eager to see her return to the Scream franchise and hopefully, that return leads to another career resurgence because she really is a talented actress.

What are YOUR thoughts on Hayden Panettiere’s addiction battle?