Hayden Panettiere is no stranger to the limelight, and that's because most of her life has been in the public eye. She started acting at the tender age of 5 years old when she played in the soap opera series, One Life to Live as Sarah Roberts. From then on, Hayden was featured in several movies for almost three decades. The Heroes star was born on August 21, 1989, in Palisades New York, and she's currently 33 years old.
Despite all the glitz and glam of the lovely actress, she has had her fair share of the dark side that Hollywood carries fighting a lot of battles within her including having to give up custody of her daughter due to depression and addiction. Here's everything we know as it pertains to Hayden keeping in touch with her daughter, Kaya Evdokia...
When Did Hayden Panettiere Give Birth?
Hayden gave birth on December 9th, 2014 to her first daughter Kaya Evdokia in Hawaii together with her now ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.
While speaking to Hello! Magazine, she said, “I'm so ready to hold my baby girl—I'm going to be a very hands-on mom. I'm thrilled that I am having a girl first because I feel like I know a lot about raising a strong woman. I feel very empowered myself and I think my daughter will, too.”
Wladimir was not left behind with the shared joy. He told E! News that he was looking forward to his life changing for good.
He also said, “I heard, just recently, somebody said, 'You don't know what love is until you have your first baby, then you know what love is.' So I think I know what love is, but I look forward to getting more knowledgeable about that.”
Hayden and Wladimir had been seeing each other since 2009, but their relationship was never fully stable. They broke up several times over the course of their relationship. They were engaged for a period of time, but put wedding planning on hold. They were engaged when they welcomed their daughter.
Hayden and Wladimir officially parted ways in 2018, and then the real trouble began for Hayden's relationship with her daughter.
Why Did Hayden Panettiere Have To Give Her Daughter Away?
According to Us Weekly, just after Hayden welcomed her bundle of joy into the world, she started experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression and a battle with substance abuse. One year later in 2015, she willingly decided to seek help twice for herself at a treatment center.
During an interview with Good Morning America, she told Lara Spencer, “It takes you a while. You feel off. You don’t feel like yourself. But, you know, women are so resilient, and that’s the incredible thing about them. I think I’m all the stronger for it. I think I’m a better mom because of it. Because you never take that connection for granted.”
While she was speaking to Yahoo! Life, she told them about how what she was going through made her feel, “It is one of the most debilitating, scary, guilty feelings that you can ever feel.”
Hayden also began to experience substance abuse, as she became dependent on the external stimuli to get her through the post-partum depression. It was a long road coming back from the substance abuse, but she has been sober for over two years.
Is Hayden Panettiere Able To Keep In Touch With Her Daughter?
While Hayden made an appearance at the Red Table Talk, she said this about her daughter being given over to her ex-fiance, “At first, it was not because it wasn’t a discussion. If Wladimir had come to me and said, ‘I think because of where you’re at right now and your struggles that you’re having it would be good for her to be over here with me for a while,’ — which if I had probably had enough of a conversation I would’ve said, ‘OK that makes sense, I get it, I’ll come there to visit and stuff like that.'”
She went on to say, “Because of the way that it was done, it was very upsetting. I mean, it was the worst signing those papers, the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life.”
When Kaya was only 2 years, Hayden handed over custody to her ex-fiance and they ended up moving back to Ukraine.
On the other hand though, Panettiere went on to praise Wladimir by saying she believes he’s doing the right thing and called him a fantastic father even though she doesn’t understand why he decided to have full custody of their daughter, Kaya.
Despite the distance between Hayden and her daughter Kaya, according to InTouch Weekly, She has managed to see her daughter who is now 7 years old, and spend mother-daughter quality time. “She has a beautiful life, I was just with her. She’s just an amazing child. She’s smart, and she’s funny and for whatever reason, she still loves me.” Hayden said while speaking in an interview with People.
Panettiere also said that Kaya and her father left Ukraine due to the country’s war with Russia but she didn’t go in-depth into revealing their whereabouts, they were just somewhere in Europe.
Overall, Hayden's mental health has become better than before, and she has been able to slowly return to her work and life.
Fans hope that in the future she will get to reunite with her daughter on a deeper level.
