Hayden Panettiere
That’s how heavy the burden of relinquishing custody of her daughter is
© Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images
Hayden Panettiere is open about her relationship with daughter Kaya, describing giving up custody as “the most heartbreaking thing” she’s ever had to do.
Hayden Panettiere, 33, has been separated from her ex-fiancé and father of her child, Wladimir Klitschko, 46, since 2018. Since then, the former world boxing champion has had sole custody of her daughter. Four years later, the actress is now speaking openly about this very emotional topic as part of the Facebook talk format “Red Table Talk” by Jada Pinkett Smith, 51, and her mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris, 68. The ‘Nashville’ star explains in detail how she gave her ex-partner sole custody of her daughter Kaya, 7.
Custody transfer was ‘most heartbreaking thing’
During the talk, Hayden Panettiere shares more about the custody arrangement for their only child. When asked if they had decided with the agreement that it was best for their daughter to be with their father, Panettiere explains in the interview: “Not at first because there was no discussion. If he had come to me and said I think because of your current situation and the struggles you’re having, it would be good for her to be here with me for a while – and if there had been enough talk I would have said, okay, that makes sense, I see it, I’m coming to see her and so on.” However, because of the way it happened, it was very difficult for her to let go of her daughter. “It was the worst thing signing those papers, the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
Panettiere further clarifies that the papers were there to give Klitschko full custody. “I wanted to work on myself, wanted to get better and thought if I get better things will change and she can come to me and I can spend my time with her, but that didn’t happen,” explains her on “Red Table Talk”.
Addiction problems and postpartum depression
In July, Panettiere opened up about her opioid and alcohol addiction for the first time. In an interview with “People”, she explained, among other things, that she had struggled with her addiction and postpartum depression for years. At her lowest point, she was shaking as soon as she woke up and “only worked with a sip of alcohol”.
In 2014, she was pregnant with daughter Kaya. When the little one was born, the young mother had big problems. “I never felt like I wanted to harm my child, but I didn’t want to spend time with her,” Panettiere said. She didn’t drink anything during pregnancy, but things went downhill again after the birth. It wasn’t long before the relationship with the child’s father, Klitschko, also crumbled. The two finally split up in 2018. In the same year she made the decision to send daughter Kaya to her father in Ukraine. “I wanted to be a good mother to her — and sometimes that means letting her go.” Panettiere finally decided to seek help.
With the former professional boxer Klitschko she was in a relationship with an interruption from 2010 to 2018 and also engaged.