Hayden Panettiere ‘guilt ridden’ that she was ‘incapable’ of parenting daughter Kaya

Hayden Panettiere reflected on the emotional toll of relinquishing custody of her daughter, Kaya, amid her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression.

The “Nashville” alum, 36, admitted she felt “guilt ridden” over being “completely incapable” of parenting her now-11-year-old daughter at the time.

“The worst thing that somebody said to me is that it was a personal choice that I was making,” Panettiere said during a panel discussion for her new memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” in West Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday.

“Who would choose to feel like this? Like, how could you even say that to me? This beautiful child is healthy and everything to celebrate,” she continued. “And I’m completely incapable of doing it. I felt so guilt ridden that I was incapable of doing it.”

Panettiere — who shares Kaya with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko — has previously spoken candidly about battling postpartum depression after giving birth in 2014, as well as her struggles with addiction in the years that followed.

At one point during the panel, the actress recalled being devastated after seeing her face on a magazine cover while walking through an airport years ago.

She detailed the moment she was walking to her gate when she saw a headline that read, “Why Hayden Panettiere Gave Up Her Daughter.”

“You might as well have taken a knife and stabbed me in the heart. If anyone knew me, they [would] know that I would do absolutely anything for my daughter,” Panettiere said. “And sometimes that means not what you want as a mom or what’s going to make you feel good as a parent, but what’s best for them.”

The Golden Globe nominee also opened up about the painful moment she signed custody paperwork, explaining that her father was present at the time.

“I have to be a little careful. I want to make sure I continue to have a beautiful relationship with my daughter,” she said. “But I’ll just say that sometimes it’s not an option.”

Panettiere said she was sitting in a restaurant when several witnesses unexpectedly arrived to watch the paperwork signing.

“I was sitting there with these people, gritting my teeth as hard as I can to not start sobbing,” she recalled. “And then I just heard them laughing and chuckling, and I was like, ‘I can’t believe you can watch somebody who’s obviously doing one of the most painful things in the world.’”

The “Heroes” alum said she immediately locked herself in the restaurant bathroom afterward to process “the reality of the situation.”

Panettiere and Klitschko started dating in 2009 and were in an on-again, off-again romance leading up to their 2013 engagement.

The following year, the “Scream 4” star announced she and the businessman were expecting their first child together.

The actress relinquished full custody of Kaya to Klitschko in 2018 following their split. 

As of May 2026, she maintains a good, co-parenting relationship with Klitschko and frequently visits her daughter in Ukraine.