Hayden Panettiere’s eyes were yellow, hair fell out ‘in clumps’ due to alcoholism
Hayden Panettiere sought help from a liver specialist during her addiction struggles.
The actress revealed in a new interview that by the time she “hit 30” in 2019, she was seeing a doctor for jaundice, which caused her eyes to turn yellow, a “swollen” face and hair loss.
“My body was like, ‘Enough,'” she told Women’s Health in her April 2023 cover story.
“I had to go to a liver specialist. I was holding on to weight that wasn’t normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps.”
Panettiere, now 33, was also struggling with “sleep deprivation” at the time, which affected her “motor skills,” “ability to sleep” and “overall health.”
She went into treatment two years later, giving herself a “blank canvas to work with” after “eight months of intensive therapy.”
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When the “Heroes” alum got a breast reduction in 2022, she felt like her “body belonged to” her again.
That same year, Panettiere revealed her secret addiction to opioids and alcohol in a People interview.
The “Nashville” star recalled being given “happy pills” for the first time at the age of 15, with the drugs and alcohol subsequently becoming “something [she] almost couldn’t live without.”
Panettiere got sober during her pregnancy with daughter Kaya, now 8, but fell off the wagon after giving birth to her and Wladimir Klitschko’s little one in 2014.
The “Scream” star, who relinquished custody of Kaya amid her addiction, is now “grateful to be part of this world again and … will never take it for granted.”
Earlier this month, she gave a sobriety update while speaking to the New York Times about her brother Jansen Panettiere’s February death, her on-again, off-again relationship with Brian Hickerson and more.
Now two years into her sobriety, Hayden looked back on her liver damage, explaining that the organ began failing when she was 27.
The Golden Globe nominee told the newspaper that she used to drink an entire bottle of alcohol to get through the day, sometimes swapping opioids for booze in order to drink less.
She noted that she has held onto one photo taken deep in her addiction “to remind” herself how she looked at rock bottom.
“The fact that I thought I looked OK at that time is the scariest part to me,” Hayden said.
