Hayden Panettiere Breaks Silence On ‘Heartbreaking’ Decision To Give Up Custody Of Her Daughter
The ‘Heroes’ star opened up about giving up custody of her only daughter Kaya to her ex Wladimir Klitschko in an upcoming episode of ‘Red Table Talk.’
Hayden Panettiere spoke out about turning over custody of her daughter Kaya in a clip for a new episode of the Facebook video series Red Table Talk, released on Tuesday, September 27. The actress, 33, admitted that giving up custody of her little one, 7, to her ex-boyfriend Wladimir Klitschko, 46, was absolutely “heartbreaking” for her, in a clip shared by People. “It was very upsetting. I mean, it was the worst. Signing those papers was the most heartbreaking I’ve ever ever had to do in my life,” she said.
Hayden got emotional as she explained about signing the papers to give full custody to Wladimir. “The papers were to give him full custody. I was going to go work on myself, and I was going to get better, and when I got better, then things could change, and she could come to me, and I could have my time with her, but that didn’t happen,” she explained.
Earlier in the discussion, it appeared that she was referencing struggles that she was facing at the time. Hayden had revealed that she struggled with alcohol and opioid abuse during a July interview with People. She said that giving up custody probably would’ve been different had there been a different conversation. “It wasn’t a discussion,” she explained. “If he had come to me and said, ‘You know, I think because of where you’re at right now and struggles that you’re having, it would be good for her to 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 makes sense. I get it. I’ll come there to visit’ and stuff like that.”
Despite how hard it was to give up custody for her daughter, it seems that Hayden and Wladimir have a strong co-parenting relationship now. Kaya has lived with her dad in Europe, and while Russia invaded Ukraine earlier in 2022, Hayden revealed that her daughter had been evacuated from the country and was safe, as Wladimir has fought to defend Ukraine.