Hayden Panettiere has gone on “Red Table Talk” to share details about her “scary” experience losing custody of her daughter.
The “Nashville” and “Heroes” actress, 33, who has struggled with substance abuse and depression, told “Red Table Talk” hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and guest host Kelly Osbourne that signing legal papers in 2018 to give her ex-fiance, Ukrainian ex-boxer Wladimir Klitschko, 46, full custody of daughter, Kaya, was “heartbreaking.”
On the full episode, now streaming, she details her experience.
“I also remember her dad calling me, and he said, ‘Kaya’s going around and asking other women if she can call them mommy,’ ” she said.
“And my breath hitched and my heart stopped, and he was laughing. He thought this was funny, and it was horrifying to me. He didn’t get it as it was to me who saw that’s a trauma reaction. That’s a cry for help. I said immediately, ‘Can I talk to my daughter?’ ”
Hayden Panettiere with her ex Wladimir Klitschko and their baby girl in 2015. SBMF/Dunkin D/FAMEFLYNET PICTUREShe further detailed that her daughter, now 7, dissolved into “goo-goo gaga speak,” when they talked.
“I’d never before ever heard her do that in her life and that pushed it even further for me to knowing that it was a trauma that she was experiencing,” said Panettiere.
“You know, me not being around. So, I mean, as much as I have tried to explain how much she needs her mom and how it’s going to rear its ugly head later when she is older, and it could turn into anger, depression, sadness, whatever it is, but it’s going to be a trauma. You know, you can explain it to somebody who doesn’t understand that concept or doesn’t believe it till you’re blue in the face.”
Hayden Panettiere opens up about “heartbreaking” custody loss. Facebook / @redtabletalk
Hayden Panettiere on “Red Table Talk” with hosts Jada Pinkett Smith (center) and Adrienne Banfield Norris (right), and guest host Kelly Osbourne (left). Facebook / @redtabletalk In February, Panettiere told People that her daughter and Klitschko were safe, amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Panettiere’s episode of Red Table Talk is now streaming on Facebook Watch.
