Hayden Panettiere reveals struggle with alcohol and drug addiction

Hayden Panettiere has revealed that she has been suffering with alcohol and drug addiction.

The Heroes star spoke to People about her addictions and suffering from postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter.

Panettiere began acting when she was a child and revealed she was offered drugs from a young age: “They were to make me peppy during interviews. I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”

Read more: Hayden Panettiere is 'OK' after bar brawl with boyfriend Brian Hickerson

She added: “As I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without."

Panettiere also detailed how her substance abuse contributed to the end of her relationship with former boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko.

She said doing opiates meant he "didn't want to be around" her.

Panettiere also revealed how in 2018 she sent her daughter to live in her father's native Ukraine because she was struggling so badly.

Read more: Hayden Panettiere launches relief fund for people fighting to defend Ukraine

She said: “It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But I wanted to be a good mom to her — and sometimes that means letting them go.”

The Nashville actor says she is now "over the hump" of addiction and has started working again after a quiet few years during which she entered rehab for eight months.

Panettiere is set to reprise her role as Kirby Reed in the sixth Scream film after previously appeared in Scream 4.

It will be her first role since the end of Nashville in 2018.

Panettiere is also known for her roles in Ally McBeal, family movie Racing Stripes and Bring it On: All or Nothing.

Panettiere and Klitschko were in an on and off relationship between 2009 and 2018.

The former heavyweight champion is currently in Kyiv where his brother is mayor and they have been defending the city from the Russian invasion.

Watch below: Hayden Panettiere in Scream 4