00:00My hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, this is not happening.
00:08Hayden Panettiere is opening up about a shocking experience she says happened when she was just 18 years old.
00:14During an episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, the actress recalled being on a boat with friends
00:20when she says she was unexpectedly led downstairs by someone she trusted.
00:25Panettiere claimed she was taken into a very small room and placed into bed next to an undressed and very
00:31famous man.
00:32She alleged the unnamed man acted like this was just an average day for him.
00:36And this is something that happens all the time.
00:39The actress said she immediately went into survival mode.
00:41There was no jumping off and swimming away and there was nobody who was going to,
00:46I realized that there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation that this was nothing new
00:53to them.
00:53Panettiere explained that while she believed she was mature enough to make safe decisions at the time,
00:58she now realizes she wasn't capable of being fully aware of what was happening around her.
01:03The actress shares the story in her upcoming memoir, This Is Me, A Reckoning, which is set to be released
01:08on May 19th.
01:09The 36-year-old has been making headlines during her press tour, including recently revealing she is bisexual
01:15and discussing the challenges of dating women while trying to avoid paparazzi attention.
01:19But Panettiere also addressed another deeply personal topic during the podcast,
01:24shutting down claims that she abandoned her daughter, Kaya.
01:28The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is
01:36heartbreaking.
01:38Couldn't be further from the truth.
01:40Panettiere spoke candidly about her struggles with postpartum depression, alcoholism, and substance abuse,
01:46following the birth of her daughter with former fiancĂŠ Vladimir Klitschko.
01:50She explained that Klitschko asked for Kaya to live with him full-time in Ukraine,
01:55when their daughter was just two years old.
01:57Panettiere admitted she did not have a good reaction to the decision
02:00and said she would have burnt the world down for her child.
02:03However, the actress said Kaya eventually built a happy and stable life overseas,
02:08making friends, learning five languages, and taking up horseback riding.
02:12Panettiere explained that by the time she became healthy again,
02:15she felt it would have been selfish to remove her daughter from the life she had created.
02:19She also pushed back on the idea that Kaya feels abandoned.
02:22I know in my heart that she feels supported.
02:26I have an incredible relationship with her.
02:28Panettiere added that she travels to see Kaya as often as possible
02:31and spends a lot of time talking with her on FaceTime.
02:34The actress also clarified another misconception during the interview,
02:38saying she was not forced into treatment
02:40and that she was actually the one who first sought help.
02:42Panettiere and Klitschko began dating in 2009,
02:45got engaged in 2013,
02:47and welcomed Kaya the following year,
02:49before splitting in 2018.
02:56Panettiere and Klitschko began dating in 2013,
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