Hayden Panettiere memoir: 5 chilling revelations from This Is Me: A Reckoning, ‘I’d be dead within five years’

Here are 5 revelations from her memoir

1. Although she and Klitschko had been living separately for several years, Panettiere expressed in her memoir that her connection with Kaya remained “incredibly strong.”
2. Panettiere shared how her battles with addiction and postpartum depression led her to relinquish custody of her now 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, to her former fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko. The star of “Nashville,” whose book was released on May 19, confessed to feeling “guilt-ridden” due to her perceived inability to parent Kaya effectively.
3. Panettiere has maintained a positive co-parenting dynamic with Klitschko and often visited her daughter in Ukraine prior to her passing.
4. During the panel discussion, Panettiere recounted her “brutal” experiences as a child star, revealing that she had been “groomed” from a very young age.
5. In her book, the former Heroes and Nashville actress openly discussed her prolonged struggle with alcohol addiction, explaining how drinking served as a means to dull the emotional suffering she endured. The book reveals that the alarming warning came after Hayden experienced jaundice. Concerned about her health, a physician warned her that if she persisted in her drinking, she could be “dead within five years.” She recounted, “A doctor told me that if I didn’t stop drinking, I’d be dead within five years.”

   “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: addicts aren’t patient. When we’re shaking, nauseated, anxious, lonely, or depressed, we need instant relief that sends us into that pain-free place called denial,” she added.

Hayden Panettiere’s treatment journey

In 2020, Hayden commenced her treatment, spending eight months in a rehabilitation facility. Her memoir illustrates the withdrawal experience as at times harrowing, featuring one notably alarming episode in which she faced auditory hallucinations that were so severe she crawled to the bathroom floor to ride out the panic.