Hayden Panettiere shares near-fatal childbirth experience after terrifying incident
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Pregnancy, Mental Health
Madison Burgess
Featured Image Credit: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Pregnancy, Mental Health
Hayden Panettiere has revealed that she almost died while giving birth to her daughter, Kaya, back in 2014.
The 36-year-old American actress opened up on the traumatic experience during a new interview with E! News on Tuesday (19 May).
Her new interview coincides with the release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which also dropped today.
The Nashville star welcomed Kaya, now 11, in 2014 with her ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko. She gave up custody of the child in 2018 amid her struggles with postpartum depression and addiction.
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Although she regularly FaceTimes and visits her, and they have an ‘incredible’ relationship, Kaya currently lives in Europe with the former professional boxer.
Reflecting on the day her daughter was brought into the world, the actress recalled: "I was sitting there and getting the C-section, and I knew that I was knocking on death's doorstep.”
“I just had the most motherly moment, though, where I said, 'God, please let me hear my daughter cry. I just want to know that she is OK and if it's my time to go, I'm OK with that.'"
The star thankfully pulled through after undergoing seven blood transfusions and overcoming an infection.
The harrowing experience helped her to realise she was ready to become a mother, as she would have sacrificed herself ‘in a second’ for Kaya, adding that she ‘wasn't afraid at all’.
After Kaya’s birth, though, Hayden, who split from Klitschko in 2018, struggled with postpartum depression.
"I don't ever want her to feel like the postpartum depression aspect was her fault in any way,” the actress said. “ I want her to take away that it's OK to be imperfect and flawed, and you'll actually realize that you're not alone in any of your struggles and you don't have to stay quiet and be sick like I was."
It comes after Panettiere appeared on Jay Shetty’s podcast, On Purpose podcast last week (11 May), where she shut down any claims of child abandonment amid her struggles with mental health and addiction.
"The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be OK with it is heartbreaking," the star explained.
She called out the ‘misconception is that I have been in the past forced into treatment when, in fact, I have been the one who sought it out’.
Hayden said: "She's an incredible little girl - so happy, speaks five languages, and rides horses. She's got two parents that love her, and I know in my heart that she feels supported."
"She is happy and healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. She in no way feels abandoned—and that's something that I've made sure to be stay on top of and be very aware of."