March 07, 2016
Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About Postpartum Depression
“Nashville” star Hayden Panettiere is speaking out about postpartum depression, a condition she suffered from after the birth of her daughter Kaya Evdokia, who is now nearly 15 months old.
The actress told Yahoo! Style the decision to tell the world about her PPD wasn't easy.
“I was always so terrified that people weren't going to accept me,” she said. “I finally just went, 'I'm tired of living afraid. I'm tired of living in fear of what people are going to think, so, you know, I'm just going to put it all out there on the table and I'm not going to worry about the judgment.'”
Hayden found that the more she spoke out “the more acceptance I got from people.”
“I got so much support and so much love,” she said. “I feel much more exposed, yes, but in a great way.”
The 26-year-old also slammed critics, saying, “It's like you have no idea what you're talking about. If you think for one second that a mother wants to feel that way toward her child, you're outta your mind. It is one of the most debilitating, scary, guilty feelings that you can ever feel.”
Panettiere added, “That a mother would not be able to connect with their child, would not be able to get a grip, or would not know what's going on, for anybody to say that it's false or created by us, you must have your head examined.”
