Hayden Panettiere says giving up daughter's custody 'was heartbreaking'

In an episode of Red Table Talk, Hayden Panettiere shared that giving  up her seven-year-old daughter Kaya’s custody to ex-partner Wladimir Klitschko was ‘heartbreaking’.

In the episode, host Jada Pinkett Smith asked the Heroes star what the public misunderstands about her. To this Panettiere responded that people accused her of being a ‘horrible mother.’

“The idea that I’m a person who would just easily throw out my child, give away my child,” she said. “The comments that people made, or things that they assumed about my situation with my daughter were just so… heart-breaking.”

“There was a cover of a magazine, I was walking through the airport, it said something like, ‘Why Hayden chose to give up her daughter.’ I was just like, this is so misrepresented. People are like, ‘How dare you, you’re a horrible mother, I could never do that to my child.’ So it was tough and it took me a long time to be able to talk about it.”

The star went on to explain the way  Klitschko handled the situation was very upsetting, as it was not a discussion.

“At first, it was not because it wasn't a discussion. If [Klitschko] had come to me and said I think because of where you're at right now and your struggles that you're having it would be good for her to be over here with me for a while — which if I had probably had enough of a conversation I would've said okay that makes sense, I get it, I'll come there to visit and stuff like that."

"Because of the way that it was done, it was very upsetting," she continued. “I mean, it was the worst signing those papers, the most heart-breaking thing I've ever, ever had to do in my life.”

In 2017, Panettiere revealed that she was seeking treatment for struggles related to her postpartum depression; the following year, Kaya went to live with her father, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in Ukraine. Klitschko and Panettiere had split that year, detailed Glamour magazine.