Hayden Panettiere Says Filming ‘Nashville’s Addiction Storyline Was “Very Traumatizing”: “I Felt Like I Was Acting Out My Own Life”

Hayden Panettiere‘s time filming Nashville may have felt a little too real at times.

Speaking with The Messenger, the actor opened up about her own battles with addiction while starring as Juliette Barnes on the ABC drama. Panettiere said that she looks back at her choice to keep acting at the time “with curiosity more than anything.”

“If I hadn’t had done that — if I hadn’t accepted Nashville and had all that time to be involved with other projects — then where would I be now?” she asked.

Her real-life trials and tribulations seemed to translate onscreen, as she likened her own life to that of her character’s. Describing the experience as “very traumatizing,” Panettiere said she”felt like [she] was acting out [her] own 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,” she recalled.

Panettiere detailed her addiction to alcohol and opiates to People in July 2022, revealing that she had first been given “happy pills” by a member of her team at age 15 before attending red carpets. She noted that while at her worst, she “would have the shakes when [she] woke up and could only function with sipping alcohol.” This ultimately led to eight months in rehab.

Another storyline Panettiere identified with related to her own daughter, Kaya, whom she sent to live with her ex-husband, Wladimir Klitschko, in Ukraine in 2018 amid her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression.

“Then they turned to her leaving her daughter and going to this crazy [place] in Europe,” she told The Messenger, referring to her Nashville character. “And it was very obvious … 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.”

She also said that she “didn’t have time to take care of” herself while shooting the six-season-long series, nor did she have time to “think about and go through the pain [she] was experiencing physically [and] emotionally.”

According to The Messenger, Panettiere plans to open up further in “A Conversation With Hayden Panettiere,” a tour in which she will speak in the following three northeast cities: Glenside, PA, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357.