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Hayden Panettiere | Source: Getty Images
In Interviews, Hayden Panettiere Addressed Rumors About Her Relationship With Her Daughter – Details
For years, the late actress faced intense scrutiny over one deeply personal part of her life. Her own account, however, revealed a far more complicated story.
Before Hayden Panettiere’s death on August 16, 2026, at age 36, the actress had spoken openly about years of speculation surrounding her relationship with daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko. And one seemingly funny nickname her daughter used for her in 2026 actually came after a much more painful chapter in their story.
Hayden Pushed Back Against Claims That She ‘Gave Up’ Her Daughter
During a May 2026 appearance on the “On Purpose Podcast” with Jay Shetty, Hayden directly challenged, “The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking,” she said, adding that it “couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The star explained that she had struggled with mental health issues, anxiety, postpartum difficulties, alcoholism, and substance abuse, and said she had personally sought treatment when she realized she needed help.
She said that when Kaya was about two to two-and-a-half years old, her father, Wladimir Klitschko, decided it would be best for their daughter to live in Ukraine. Hayden divulged that she initially reacted like a “mother lion” and would have “burnt the world down” for her child. She said losing the ability to have Kaya with her “all day every day” brought an almost impossible combination of emotions.
But the actress also described eventually looking at the life Kaya already had in Europe from her daughter’s point of view. Because Hayden had been working and Wladimir was preparing for fights and managing his own business commitments, Kaya had spent years traveling between the U.S. and Europe.
Sometimes her parents traveled with her, while at other times she traveled with a nanny. In Europe, Hayden said, Kaya already had family, friends, and extracurricular activities. She had also become familiar with the languages around her.
So when Hayden became healthier, she said she was faced with an extraordinarily difficult realization: bringing Kaya back simply because she could might have served her own wishes more than her daughter’s.
“I felt like it would have been unfair of me to, and selfish of me to try to pull her out” of the life she had built, Hayden explained. She described Kaya as happy and thriving, saying her daughter spoke five languages, namely, English, Russian, Ukrainian and German and the beginning stages of French, and rode horses. More importantly, Hayden believed Kaya knew that both of her parents loved her.
“I have an incredible relationship with her,” the late star noted further, explaining that she traveled to see Kaya whenever possible and spent a great deal of time talking to her on FaceTime. She also insisted Kaya “in no way feels abandoned,” saying they discussed deep subjects and shared an “intense, incredible” bond.
The Unexpected Nickname Kaya Started Calling Her Mom
Another May 2026 interview offered a much lighter glimpse of that relationship. While speaking with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings,” Hayden said Kaya had begun “calling mommy more and more.” But recently, her daughter had surprised her during a FaceTime call.
“She goes, ‘Hey Brittany,'” Hayden recalled. It took her a moment to understand that Kaya was referring to Brittany Allen, Hayden’s character in “Bring It On: All or Nothing.”
Kaya’s friends had apparently become fans of “Bring It On,” too, and Hayden said her daughter was even asking her to Zoom with them. “I’m cool now,” she joked. The playful nickname painted a strikingly different picture from one Hayden had shared several years earlier.
Years Earlier, Kaya Asked Other Women If She Could Call Them ‘Mommy’
During a September 2022 “Red Table Talk” interview, Hayden recalled Wladimir telling her that Kaya had been asking other women whether she could call them “mommy.” “My breath hitched, and my heart stopped,” Hayden shared.
The actress claimed Wladimir laughed because he thought the situation was funny, but she found it “horrifying.” To her, Kaya’s behavior seemed like “a trauma reaction” and “a cry for help,” so she immediately asked to speak with her daughter.
Hayden said that when she questioned Kaya about it, the child suddenly began speaking in what she described as “goo-goo gaga” gibberish — something Hayden said she had never heard her do before.
The actress believed the reaction showed Kaya was struggling with having her mother away and said she feared the separation could affect her emotionally later in life.
Kaya was born on December 9, 2014, in Hawaii to Hayden and Heavyweight Boxing Champion Wladimir. According to People’s report announcing Kaya’s birth, the baby weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz. and measured 20 inches long.
“We are over the moon and madly in love!” the new parents said at the time. Hayden had largely kept quiet about her pregnancy, although her baby bump naturally became harder to hide. At the 2014 Emmys, she accidentally revealed that she and Wladimir were expecting a girl while talking about decorating and shopping for the baby.
Panettiere welcomed daughter Kaya in December 2014 after previously saying she felt empowered by the idea of raising a strong woman. Years later, she would reveal how drastically her experience of motherhood diverged from those early expectations. | Source: Getty Images
“I’m thrilled that I am having a girl first because I feel like I know a lot about raising a strong woman,” she told Hello! Magazine while discussing her pregnancy and then-impending motherhood. “I feel very empowered myself and I think my daughter will, too,” she added.
At the time, Hayden was engaged to Wladimir. The couple had announced their engagement in 2013, more than a year before Kaya arrived. The first days of motherhood brought all the expected exhaustion, and some surprises.
Hayden later joked that she finally got her first uninterrupted night of sleep because Wladimir’s mother had been eager to take care of the then-newborn overnight.
Panettiere shares Kaya with former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, who became the girl’s primary caregiver while the actress sought help for her health and addiction struggles. Despite their split, Panettiere says she and Klitschko remained close and committed to speaking positively about each other to their daughter. | Source: Getty Images
“Wlad’s mom was desperate to take the baby for a night,” Hayden recalled in People’s first-photo story about the new family. “She looks like she didn’t get much sleep, but I feel well-rested!”
She described becoming a parent as “such a surreal experience and so out of body,” saying that she and Wladimir were simply getting to know the little person who had spent months growing inside her. Physically, however, recovery from childbirth was not easy.
Panettiere has said she and Klitschko were still “best friends” and regularly communicated with Kaya together. Their cooperative relationship had helped the actress maintain what she called an “incredible” bond with her daughter across continents. | Source: Getty Images
“I’m limping around,” Hayden said at the time, adding that she was still trying to understand what pregnancy had done to her body and which changes might be temporary or permanent. She even joked that she felt “like an 80-year-old woman trying to go down the stairs.”
Kaya, meanwhile, was described by her mom as an easy and very sweet baby, albeit one with what Hayden called an “insatiable appetite.” But behind those tender early moments, Hayden would eventually face a struggle she said she had not been prepared to recognize.
Kaya’s arrival initially brought Panettiere the excitement of first-time motherhood, but she later said she was unprepared for the postpartum depression that followed. She had spoken openly about how isolated and confused she felt during that period. | Source: Getty Images
Years later, Hayden explained that she suffered from postpartum depression after Kaya’s birth. The actress said part of what made the experience so frightening was that she did not understand what postpartum depression was or realize she should be watching for it.
“I wish I knew about postpartum depression. I wish I knew to look out for it,” she told E! News while reflecting on her experience in 2023. Hayden said she thought “there was something seriously wrong” with her and turned to alcohol in an attempt to make herself feel better.
She recalled thinking, “Fireball will fix this — duh!” before discovering that any relief was fleeting and ultimately made things worse. The isolation was another painful component. Because Hayden had not known what she was experiencing, she felt she should somehow have been able to overcome it on her own.
Panettiere’s struggles after becoming a mother eventually included battles with alcohol and opioids, which she had discussed candidly in interviews. She later said getting healthy meant confronting the painful reality that Kaya had already built a stable life in Europe. | Source: Getty Images
Her struggle with postpartum depression was something she had spoken about publicly years earlier, but she later connected those emotional difficulties to a much broader battle. Hayden had also candidly addressed her struggles involving opioids and alcohol, which became part of the circumstances surrounding Kaya eventually living with her father.
The actress said she wished new mothers were told that an immediate, overwhelming sense of attachment is not the only possible reaction to giving birth. She recalled wanting someone to explain that it was not abnormal to meet a newborn and initially see a “crazy little creation” whom a parent would come to love more deeply as they got to know the child.
Panettiere had pushed back strongly against the idea that she simply “gave up” her daughter, having called the custody decision one of the most painful experiences of her life. She had said she ultimately accepted the arrangement because she believed disrupting Kaya’s established life would have been selfish. | Source: Getty Images
The Mayo Clinic’s information on postpartum depression cited in E!’s report notes that symptoms can include severe mood swings and difficulty bonding with a baby. For Hayden, what followed was not just a private battle with her health; it ultimately changed the day-to-day structure of her daughter’s childhood.
When Kaya Went to Live with Her Father
The circumstances surrounding the arrangement of Kaya living with her dad in Europe had become one of the most misunderstood — and emotionally charged — parts of the actress’ life story.
During the same September 2022 appearance on “Red Table Talk,” Hayden was asked about the idea that she and Wladimir had simply agreed it was best for Kaya to be with her dad after the couple had already split for good in 2018. Her answer was striking.
Panettiere and former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko welcomed their only child, Kaya, in December 2014. Years later, the actress said the painful changes to their family were never as simple as her choosing to walk away from motherhood. | Source: Getty Images
“At first it was not because it wasn’t a discussion,” she said during the “Red Table Talk” conversation about relinquishing custody. Hayden explained that had Wladimir approached her and suggested that Kaya stay with him temporarily because of what she was going through, she probably would have understood the reasoning.
“Okay, that makes sense. I get it. I’ll come there, you know, to visit and stuff like that,” she said of how she believed such a conversation might have gone. Instead, Hayden said the way the situation unfolded was “very upsetting.” Then came the paperwork.
“I mean, it was the worst signing those papers,” Hayden recalled. “It was like the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life.”
She clarified that the documents gave Wladimir full custody. At that point, Hayden said her intention was to focus on herself, recover, and eventually reach a place where the arrangement could change. She believed that once she was better, Kaya might return and she would have more time with her daughter. “But that didn’t happen,” Hayden stated.
Kaya was nearly three when the arrangement changed, and she initially believed her daughter was simply visiting her father in Ukraine. “It wasn’t fully my decision,” Hayden said on “Red Table Talk,” as recounted in People’s 2024 look at Kaya’s life and her relationship with her mom. “In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there.”
That detail helps explain why Hayden has pushed back so strongly against the narrative that she casually chose to walk away from motherhood.
Hayden Later Said She Was ‘Guilt Ridden’
The actress admitted she had felt “guilt ridden” over being “completely incapable” of parenting her now-11-year-old daughter at the time, according to Page Six’s report on her emotional recollection.
She also remembered a remark that particularly hurt. “The worst thing that somebody said to me is that it was a personal choice that I was making,” Hayden said. Her response made clear just how impossible that characterization felt to her.
“Who would choose to feel like this? Like, how could you even say that to me?” she asked. Hayden described Kaya as a healthy, beautiful child who represented “everything to celebrate,” making her inability to function as the mother she wanted to be even more painful.
“And I’m completely incapable of doing it,” she said. “I felt so guilt ridden [sic] that I was incapable of doing it.” Another moment seared itself into her memory: While walking through an airport, Hayden spotted a magazine cover featuring her face and a headline asking why she had given up her daughter.
“You might as well have taken a knife and stabbed me in the heart,” she recalled. Hayden insisted anyone who truly knew her would know she would have done “absolutely anything” for Kaya. But she argued that loving a child can sometimes mean accepting a decision that does not make the parent feel better.
Panettiere spoke candidly about postpartum depression following Kaya’s birth and the addiction struggles that later followed. She said there were periods when she felt “completely incapable” of being the parent she desperately wanted to be. | Source: Getty Images
“Sometimes that means not what you want as a mom or what’s going to make you feel good as a parent, but what’s best for them,” she said. Even the actual custody signing remains a painful memory.
Hayden shared that her father was present, while several other people unexpectedly arrived to witness her signing the paperwork. She recalled sitting in a restaurant and clenching her teeth so tightly so she would not begin sobbing.
Then, she heard people laughing and chuckling nearby. “I can’t believe you can watch somebody who’s obviously doing one of the most painful things in the world,” she remembered thinking.
The actress said signing over custody of Kaya was the “most heartbreaking thing” she had ever done. She later stressed that allowing her daughter to remain with Klitschko ultimately meant putting Kaya’s stability ahead of what she herself wanted as a mother. | Source: Getty Images
Afterward, Hayden said she went into the restaurant bathroom and locked herself inside as she confronted “the reality of the situation.” Her memoir revisits experiences from that deeply difficult period of her life. But Kaya’s story did not stop with the custody papers. Amid her beautiful life in Europe, Kaya has developed an affinity for horses. In fact, according to her mom’s past words, she has become obsessed with horses.
Hayden believed that particular passion may run in the family. “I have horseback riding in my genetics,” she said, noting that her great-uncle once won the Kentucky Derby. She also shared one particularly funny glimpse into Kaya’s enthusiasm.
Hayden received a video of her daughter watching “Racing Stripes,” a movie she apparently loves to replay. Kaya was sitting on a toy hippo and pretending to race it with such enthusiasm that Hayden joked she feared the toy’s ears were going to be ripped off.
The young girl is also a strong swimmer and loves the water — another quality Hayden had recognized in herself. “She’s just like me,” the actress previously said. Hayden recalled spending plenty of time in her pool while pregnant with Kaya and working on “Nashville.” “And she came out just loving water,” Hayden said.
Hayden Had Shared That Her Daughter Is ‘Happy,’ ‘Solid’ and Knows She Is Loved
At 11, Kaya has been living what her mother called an “incredible life.” “She’s an incredible little girl,” Hayden had shared with Jay. The actress also spoke about the support system surrounding her. More importantly, she believed her daughter knew she had two parents who love her.
Hayden said she was confident in her heart that Kaya felt supported and insisted that their physical separation had not destroyed their relationship. “I have an incredible relationship with her,” the mom said. Hayden would travel to see Kaya as much as possible and spent significant amounts of time talking to her through FaceTime.
Their conversations were apparently not limited to quick check-ins. “We talk about really deep things,” Hayden revealed.
For Hayden, parenting Kaya from another continent also meant trying to lead through example. Her daughter, she noted, was born to two very public and powerful parents pursuing dramatically different careers on separate continents, and Kaya apparently enjoyed watching both of them succeed. “She’s our biggest fan,” Hayden revealed further.
The actress believed seeing what her parents accomplish may help Kaya believe she can accomplish whatever she sets her own mind to. And Hayden saw something even more important in the way Kaya carries herself.
She described her daughter as “good” and “solid” and said Kaya’s ability to love herself offers powerful reassurance that she feels loved. Watching an 11-year-old already show an ability to love both herself and other people, Hayden said, is more than a parent could ask for.
Panettiere and Klitschko became parents to Kaya in December 2014, more than a year after announcing their engagement. Their relationship later ended, but Panettiere said the two remained extremely close and worked together to make sure Kaya felt supported by both parents. | Source: Getty Images
Because of the relationship she had with Kaya, and because of the way events ultimately unfolded, Hayden said she had reached a place of being capable of feeling profound gratitude alongside the pain. Kaya, she stressed, has “an incredible father” and “an incredible family.”
The situation was still not the version of motherhood Hayden once hoped to experience. Yet she said she felt lucky that Kaya is safe, well-rounded, and was deeply connected to her. That bond was once one of her greatest fears.
When Kaya went away, Hayden worried she might have had to fight extremely hard to maintain any relationship with her daughter. Instead, she later said the outcome became “in a lot of ways” a blessing. That does not mean she did not ache for more. “I always want her here,” Hayden said. “I always miss her.” “But that’s just not the way life is right at this moment,” she acknowledged.
Although Panettiere and Klitschko ultimately built separate lives, their daughter remained the strongest link between them. Panettiere said they were still “best friends” and had promised never to speak negatively about one another to Kaya. | Source: Getty Images
Hayden was also thinking well beyond Kaya’s childhood. She believed that one day her daughter would be an adult with the freedom to decide for herself where she wants to live and how she wants to structure her life, and the actress had faith in what may have happened then.
Hayden believed Kaya would come to her and that the two would have had an “incredible relationship and bond and friendship” of the kind many parents never get to experience with their adult children.
Kaya’s Parents Still Remained Close to Each Other After Their Split
One thing that seemed to have made the unconventional arrangement easier was Hayden’s relationship with Wladimir. “Wlad and I are very close,” she said in 2026. Despite no longer being a couple, she said all three of them communicated regularly.
Sometimes that meant a three-way FaceTime call between Hayden, Kaya, and Wladimir, whom Hayden described as “incredibly supportive.” She said he has brought Kaya to the United States, allowing their daughter to spend time with members of Hayden’s family.
Kaya was able to know her great-grandparents before Hayden’s “grandpy” and “papa” died. “That was really important to me,” the actress explained. Kaya still has Hayden’s nana and grandmother in her life, and she even has an affectionate nickname for one of them: “Super Nana.”
Panettiere said she and Klitschko remained “best friends” after their romantic relationship ended and shared tremendous respect for one another. That bond helped them stay united in raising Kaya despite living on different continents. | Source: Getty Images
As for Wladimir, the actress went even further than simply describing them as cordial co-parents. “Wlad and I are still best friends,” she said. Hayden believed few people in the world knew her as well as he did.
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She also said they continued to have tremendous love for each other, and, perhaps most importantly for Kaya, respect. That respect had translated into a specific parenting rule. Hayden explained that her own childhood shaped an important choice she and Wladimir made after their romantic relationship ended.
Growing up, she said she heard her mother speak negatively about her father. “It hurt to constantly, you know, hear the person that you love be put down,” Hayden explained. Because of that experience, she and Wladimir had promised they would never speak negatively about one another to Kaya.
Panettiere and Klitschko’s relationship eventually changed, but their connection as Kaya’s parents endured. She later said they remained close, respected one another deeply, and worked to keep their daughter’s relationship with both parents strong. | Source: Getty Images
According to Hayden, both had kept that promise. Instead, they made sure to speak only highly of each other to their daughter. Additionally, Hayden said she checked that Kaya remained respectful toward and loving with her father.
She also made sure Kaya understood how highly she regarded him, having called Wladimir a “hero” and “one of the bravest people” she knew. And by her account, Kaya “loves both of us to death.”
That united front matters because the actress knew her daughter may eventually encounter a much less tidy version of their family story. In fact, some of that version is now contained in Hayden’s own memoir, which also surrounds a concern she has voiced perhaps most poignantly.
There Is One Thing Hayden Did Not Want Kaya to Believe
Hayden released “This Is Me: A Reckoning” on May 19, 2026. The book examines extraordinarily personal parts of her life, including childhood fame, romantic relationships, her younger brother Jansen’s death, difficult experiences in Hollywood, and the painful circumstances surrounding Kaya living primarily with her father.
At a Los Angeles event discussing the book, Hayden was asked to look ahead to the day when Kaya herself might read it. “I don’t want her ever to read it and think any of it was her fault,” Hayden said in People’s report on what she hopes Kaya understands about the memoir.
“I love her so dearly,” she continued. Hayden also acknowledged that the complicated story contained in the book is “a lot” for an 11-year-old to process. Still, she intended to continue protecting Kaya while her daughter is still young.
As we previously reported, Hayden Panettiere died suddenly on August 16, 2026, at the age of 36, leaving behind her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya.
Sources with direct knowledge told the outlet that she and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, had flown from Los Angeles to the South the day before.
Hayden attended an Emmy nominees event in West Hollywood in September 2022. In later interviews, she spoke openly about the personal struggles she faced away from the spotlight. | Source: Getty Images
A source close to Hayden also told the same outlet that she had complained of back pain during the past year. The report did not link that pain to her death.
TMZ later cited law enforcement sources who said police responded Sunday to an incident involving Hayden. The outlet reported that an investigation remains open, but no further details were provided.
As questions remained, Hayden’s father, Skip Panettiere, issued his first public statement following his daughter’s death.
Hayden Panettiere attended the Hollywood Christmas Parade with her father, Skip Panettiere. Years later, Skip would be the family member to issue the first public statement after her death. | Source: Getty Images
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he told ABC News. He described her as “an incredible light and a force of nature” who brought “immeasurable love and joy” to those who knew her and to the millions who watched her onscreen. Skip also asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
Hayden was photographed with her father in New York City in 2016. After her death in 2026, Skip asked for privacy as the family began processing the loss. | Source: Getty Images
Hayden rose to fame as a child actress, building a career that spanned television, film, and voice acting. Her film credits included “Remember the Titans” alongside Denzel Washington and “Joe Somebody” with Tim Allen.
Panettiere was photographed with Brian Hickerson at a celebration of life for her younger brother, Jansen, in Palisades, New York, on March 8, 2023. TMZ later identified Hickerson as her on-again, off-again boyfriend and reported that the two traveled together the day before her death. | Source: Getty Images
She also built a substantial voice-acting resume, with roles in “A Bug’s Life,” “Dinosaur,” “Kingdom Hearts,” and “The Mark of Kri.” Hayden later appeared in “Racing Stripes,” which combined live action with an ensemble voice cast that included Whoopi Goldberg, Dustin Hoffman, Joshua Jackson, and Mandy Moore.
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