Hayden Panettiere Says It Was 'Very Traumatizing' Filming This Hit TV Show

Hayden Panettiere is delving deep into a traumatic last few years.

The “Remember the Titans” star reflected on her years on the hit show “Nashville,” which she says began to mirror her own off-camera struggles.

Panettiere told The Messenger in an interview published on Thursday that filming was “very traumatizing because I felt like I was acting out my own life.”

“Straight from the beginning, it was like, I’m dating a football player, [and then] Juliette dates a football player. And then they turned her into an alcoholic,” Panettiere explained. “Then they turned to her leaving her daughter and going to this crazy [place] in Europe, and it was very obvious … They weren’t doing their homework.”

“They weren’t creating new storylines,” the actor said of the show’s narratives. “They were just looking at my life and going, ‘Oh, let’s just take what she’s going through and put our little spin on it.’ And then, ta-da! It’s done and done.”

The “Heroes” actor appeared on “Nashville” from 2012 to 2018. She gave birth to her daughter, Kaya, in 2014. Panettiere later dealt with postpartum depression and alcohol and opiate abuse, which led to her relinquishing Kaya to go live with her father, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in Ukraine.

Panettiere said during an interview on “Red Table Talk” in 2022 that giving up custody of Kaya was not “fully my decision.”

“Because of the way that it was done, it was very upsetting,” she explained during her appearance. “It was the worst signing those papers ― the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life.”

Need help with substance use disorder or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline .

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