Hayden Panettiere opens up about 'heartbreaking' daughter's custody decision

Hayden Panettiere has opened up about the 'heartbreaking' decision to give up custody of her daughter while she was struggling with addiction and postpartum depression.

The Nashville actress, 36 signed over custody of Kaya, now 11, to ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, 50, back in 2018. Her daughter currently lives in Europe with the former professional boxer, while Panettiere resides in the United States.

Speaking up on Monday's episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, the Heroes actress revealed she 'desperately' needed help at the time and insisted that Kaya does not feel 'abandoned.'

'The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn't be further from the truth,' Panettiere said.

'I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and postpartum and having to act my way through it, and just feeling like I completely lost myself,' she added.

'A misconception is that I have been in the past forced into treatment, when in fact I have been the one who sought it out, who was saying I desperately need help. I know that this is going to look terrible, but I cannot live like this.'

As for her current relationship with Kaya, Panettiere said they have a strong bond and that they see each other frequently.

Elsewhere on the podcast, she discussed her battle with postpartum depression.

'From a young age, I always dreamt of becoming a mom. It was something that I always knew that I would be, always wanted to be. And I had all these ideas in my head of the kind of mother that I was going to be.

'I had this beautiful plan in my head. And then I had my daughter, and I knew something was just terribly, terribly wrong.'

She said that there is a lot of 'stigma' and 'misunderstanding' around postpartum depression.