Off-camera moment that showed Hayden Panettiere was ‘clearly struggling’ in final TV interview
CBS Mornings host Gayle King says an off-camera interaction with Hayden Panettiere suggested the late actor was 'clearly struggling'.
Panettiere had appeared on CBS Mornings to promote her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, back in May, in which she talked about her troubled upbringing in the spotlight, revealing that she'd been working as an actor since she was an 'eight-month-old baby'.
Reflecting on her final interaction with Panettiere after hearing about the news of her death, King revealed that she was 'so, so sad' to hear the news of the Heroes star's passing, before reflecting on an off-camera interaction she had with the actor.
"When she was here in the studio that day, and I was talking to her off-camera, she was saying she felt that she was in a good place," King recalled.
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"But she was still, clearly still struggling."
King went on to add that Panettiere had opened up about the decision to sign over full custody of her daughter Kaya to ex-partner Wladimir Klitschko, saying that it had been 'one of the hardest things' she'd had to do.
"Her daughter meant everything to her," King said. "Giving up [custody of] her daughter to her dad was one of the hardest things, but she thought that was what was best for her daughter."
Panettiere had made the decision to sign over custody of daughter Kaya, now 11, to the boxer after postpartum depression had exacerbated her addiction issues in 2018.
Writing about the decision in her memoir, Panettiere wrote: "Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life.
"It’s hard to describe the layers of emotion - including sadness, resentment, and anger - I’ve felt because of it."
The 36-year-old went on to write that she grieved for the mother she wasn't able to be, calling Kaya 'the greatest gift of my life'.
"[She's] all the best parts of her father and me."
Little is known about Kaya's life, other than the fact that she lives with Klitschko in Europe and is fluent in five languages, a decision which Panettiere was in full support of.
"She didn’t ask to be born into the limelight or my chaos," she wrote of the decision to protect her daughter's private life. "She didn’t get to choose her parents.
"I want her to have every choice that I didn’t, including the ability to live a private life."
Praising Klitschko for his role in bringing their daughter up, she called him a 'wonderful human being', an 'amazing father to Kaya' and 'one of the most courageous people I’ve ever met'.
Klitschko has since reacted to the news of Panettiere's death, writing that she was experiencing a time of 'profound shock and grief'.
"The announcement of Hayden’s tragic death saddens me deeply. She left this world far too soon. Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya," he wrote.
"She built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry. Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives."
Topics: Hayden Panettiere, Celebrity News, Celebrity
Brenna Cooper