Actress Hayden Panettiere Recalls Moment Her Ex-Fiancé Took Their Daughter to Ukraine and Never Came Back: ‘It Wasn’t Fully My Decision’

Actress Hayden Panettiere is opening up for the first time about losing custody of her daughter Kaya.

In July, Panettiere opened up about her struggles with alcohol and opioids. The actress told People magazine that her use of pills began when she was just 15 years old when members of her team would give her “happy pills” before she would walk red carpets.

Over the years her dependency increased and came to a head when she gave birth to her daughter Kaya with then fiancé, professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.

Panettiere suffered from postpartum depression and turned to drinking as a coping mechanism. She received treatment on and off in 2015 and 2016.

As a result of her struggles, her marriage ended in 2018 and eventually, her daughter Kaya went to Ukraine to live with Klitschko.

On the Wednesday edition of Red Table Talk, Panettiere sat down with Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield-Norris, and Kelly Osbourne to discuss her journey.

Up until now, it was widely believed that Panettiere made the decision to send her daughter to Ukraine to live with her father, but during the conversation, she revealed she didn’t have a choice.

“I felt horribly guilty. But at the same time, I was trying to tell myself that if I’m not okay, if I’m not good, then I cannot be the best mom to you,” Panettiere began.

“And I was going through such a hard time that I knew the most unselfish thing that I could do was to make that hard decision and just try to work on myself.”

“How old was your daughter when you made that decision?” asked Banfield-Norris

“She was almost three and it wasn’t fully my decision. In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there in a country where her uncle is the mayor and they are icons over there,” Panettiere said. “It’s a country where it’s very male dominated. So there wasn’t a heck of a lot that I could do.”

Klitschko’s brother is Vitali Klitschko the current mayor of Kyiv. Both have been active in the war against Russia.

“I’m a little confused. I thought this was an agreement that you came to, that you felt it was best that your daughter be with her dad,” Banfield-Norris pressed.

“At first it was not because it wasn’t a discussion,” Panettiere clarified. “If he had come to me and said, ‘You know, I think because of where you’re at right now and the struggles that you’re having, it would be good for her to, you know, be over here with me for a while.’ To which I probably, if I had had enough of a conversation, would’ve said, ‘Okay, that, that makes sense. I get it. I’ll come there, you know, to visit and stuff like that.’ Because of the way that it was done, it was very upsetting.”

The actress detailed that she was made to sign over full custody of her daughter to Klitschko, with a veiled promise of amending the agreement after seeking treatment.

“I thought she was going over to visit him like she always did. She went back and forth between me in Nashville and Ukraine. And then once she was over there — which, it was immediately, ‘I want full custody of her,’ which was a shock to me,” she said.

Panettiere still spoke positively of Klitschko.

She added, “I understand that he thinks that he’s doing, you know, the right thing. He’s a fantastic father. He really is. But I don’t think he fully grasps that as she gets older–”

“She’s gonna need her mom,” Osbourne chimed in.

As a result, Panettiere said she had to go back several times for treatment due to the emotional distress of losing her daughter.

She added that her daughter is currently not in Ukraine for safety reasons but did not disclose where she now lives.

Panettiere also eluded to trying to keep Klitschko happy since he has full custody. “It took me a long time to be able to talk about it. And this is really the first time that I’ve delved into that specific topic, because it’s just scary. You don’t wanna piss anyone off. Especially the person who has control of your child,” she concluded.