Actress Hayden Panettiere, 33, is Women's Health's latest cover star. After a long break from the spotlight, the star is back on screen, reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.
Since her first days as a child actor (her first job was at four years old) to being nominated for a Grammy at 10 and starring alongside Denzel Washington in Remember The Titans, age 11, Hayden has long lived a life less ordinary.
In the wide-ranging interview that accompanies our golden hour coastal cover shoot, she opens up about the many challenging things she's experienced over the past decade - and the lessons she's learned along the way.
Hayden speaks candidly about how her alcoholism developed, right back in her early 20s when she moved to Tennessee to star in Nashville. The way she tells it, the drinking began to help the actress cope with stress.
'I was being told how to be and how to live by so many people in my life. I wanted certain decisions to be my own, and no one could stop me,' she share, adding - 'what I put in my body was like an act of defiance.'
'Some people work out. I wish that was my coping mechanism. Alcohol might make you feel better in that moment, but it makes you feel so much worse the next day, and then you do it all over again.'
In 2014, our cover star welcomed a daughter - Kaya, now eight - with ex boyfriend, the Ukrainian former boxer Wladimir Klitschko. Following the birth she experienced post natal depression and then, following a flare up of a neck injury, she began taking opioid painkillers.
'I was in a lot of pain. My tolerance got so high so fast that it became a problem. I should have gone on antidepressants [to cope with the postnatal depression], but you have to find the right one that works for you. They don’t mix well with alcohol, and I wasn’t ready to stop drinking.'
Such is the nature of addiction - and all power to Hayden for speaking so openly about her experience.
Her first stint in rehab came in 2015, in the middle of filming Nashville’s fourth series in 2015.
'I was the one who put myself in the first treatment centre. I was drowning,' she recalls. 'They wrote my character as having postpartum depression…that she abandoned her child and went to a different country. And it was very difficult to go on set and to act out these feelings about these things that I was truly going through in my real life.'
Eventually Hayden made the difficult decision to leave the industry to prioritise getting better. But even without the stresses of the job, she returned to drinking. The effects were dramatic.
'I struggled with sleep deprivation. Sleep is massive. It affects your motor skills, your ability to think and your overall health...my body was like, ‘enough’.'
The timing also made her reflect. 'I hit 30. My face was swollen. I had jaundice. My eyes were yellow. I had to go to a liver specialist. I was holding on to weight that wasn’t normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps.'
Evidently, there's been a one hell of a shift since then. In 2021 Hayden went back into treatment and enrolled in a 12-step programme.
'I did a lot of work on myself. After eight months of intensive therapy, I felt like I had this blank canvas to work with.'
Ultimately, having a breast reduction proved to be key part of the process of reclaiming herself.
'My body still didn’t feel like it belonged to me [explaining why she decided to get a breast reduction in November 2022]. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with someone who wants to tweak something if it makes them feel more confident. That’s all I have to say about it. My confidence is back.'
And we're pleased to hear it. The most powerful element of Hayden's healing has, however, been something more internal.
'A big part of my therapy has been living in forgiveness,' she shares. 'A step in the 12-step programme is making amends. If someone wants to be a good person and to be the best version of themselves, they can choose to do that.'
You can find the full Hayden Panettiere shoot and interview in the May issue of Women's Health, on sale now
