Hayden Panettiere once had Hollywood at her fingertips. However, her growing dependency on alcohol and opioids, followed by a nasty postpartum depression diagnosis, made her put a pause on her career and get the help she needed. “I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” the former Heroes star, 32, told People on June 6 as she opened up about her addiction for the first time ever. “I put a lot of work into myself and I had to be willing to be incredibly honest,” she added.
Some of that work included sending her 7-year-old daughter Kaya to Ukraine to live with her father, Wladimir Klitschko, who is now fighting the war in Ukraine against Russia. Hayden gave birth to Kaya in 2014 and split from her father in 2018 after a rocky relationship. Keep scrolling to learn more about Hayden’s daughter, Kaya.
Kaya Is Hayden’s Mini-Me
“Oh my gosh, that child came out of me,” Hayden told People on July 6 when opening up about her relationship with her daughter. “But she is smarter than me. And she’s going to be taller than me!” She went on to say her daughter is also “amazing” and “funny”.
She also opened up about how she felt sending Kaya to live in Ukraine with her father. “It was the hardest thing I could do,” she noted. “But the best thing for my daughter was to make sure she was okay, take care of myself and make sure I could be a good mom to her. And sometimes that means letting go.”
Kaya Has A ‘Beautiful’ Life
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Hayden made sure fans knew that her daughter was safe and had gotten out of the country, per E! News. And although living through the invasion and watching your father fight alongside his fellow Ukrainians can be devastating to anyone, Hayden told People that her daughter is happy and full of life. “She has a beautiful life. I was just with her,” the doting mother noted. She added, “She’s a happy kid open to a huge world. And she has more love than anybody I’ve ever met.”
Kaya is part of the reason the Scream actress founded Hoplon International, an organization that raises money to help aid those in need in Ukraine. “What she’s dealing with and what we’re all going through right now in regards to Ukraine is really really hard. I had a conversation with her and the only question she had was, ‘Why is Putin doing this?’ It’s so heartbreaking,” the actress recalled.
Kaya Is Bilingual
Hayden revealed during a 2017 visit to Live! With Kelly and Ryan that her daughter is learning both English and Russian and even has a Russian accent when speaking in English. Hayden also noted that she has learned a bit of “baby Russian” herself!
