Hayden Panettiere reflects on ‘very traumatic’ experience filming ‘Nashville’

Hayden Panettiere is candidly speaking out about how her character on "Nashville" mirrored her struggles in her personal life. 

After starring on the hit series for six years, Panettiere, 34, revealed that her character on the show hit too close to home, as she battled with alcoholism, addiction and postpartum depression. 

Panettiere confessed her working on the show was "very traumatizing because I felt like I was acting out my own life," she shared in an interview with The Messenger. 

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The actress portrayed Juliette Barnes, a country music singer who rose to fame in Music City and struggled to balance her personal and professional life.

"Straight from the beginning, it was like, I'm dating a football player, [and then] Juliette dates a football player. And then they turned her into an alcoholic. Then they turned to her leaving her daughter and going to this crazy [place] in Europe, and it was very obvious…" she pointed out.

"They weren't doing their homework. They weren't creating new storylines. They were just looking at my life and going, 'Oh, let's just take what she's going through and put our little spin on it.' And then, ta-da! It's done and done."

The "Bring It On: All or Nothing" star added that she worked excruciating 12- to 20-hour days and that seeing a reflection of her own life being acted out through her character impacted her wellness. 

"I didn't have time to take care of myself [and] to think about and go through the pain I was experiencing physically [and] emotionally. I just wanted to drum it out and watch mindless television and great shows," she shared. 

"Anything to keep my mind off of that because I knew that next day I was going to be back at it again. I was like, tear central. I don't even think on a soap opera that I cried as much [as I did] on ‘Nashville.’"

Panettiere previously opened up about her postpartum depression and seeking treatment in 2022. 

After she gave birth to her daughter Kaya in 2014, Panettiere admitted that she used alcohol to numb her depression during an interview with "Red Table Talk."

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"Some people thought it was a personal choice, that being depressed at all was a personal choice, and that I could just snap my fingers and choose one day, ‘I’m not going to be depressed anymore. I'm going to be happy,'" she told hosts Jada Pinkett Smith and Adrienne Banfield Norris and guest host Kelly Osbourne at the time. 

"I felt like it was not something that people understood or talked about, and I didn't know how to ask for help."

Panettiere claimed she learned how to use alcohol to cope with her issues by observing family and friends.

"I did what I had seen family and the people around me do whenever they were depressed or stressed out or anything, which was reach for a bottle," she explained. "Which made it that much worse."

The actress revealed it took her months to realize that she was having postpartum depression. Panettiere said she eventually entered treatment.

"I went to treatment the first time when my daughter was about 4 months old because I wanted to fix myself," she said, noting she specifically focused on her alcohol abuse. "I was just leaning on the crutch."

Having been to treatment multiple times, Panettiere explained that it led her to a better place.

The "Heroes" star is preparing to kick off her "A Conversation With Hayden Panettiere" tour at the end of February.