Hayden Panettiere has broken her silence after sparking concerns for her health in a ‘concerning’ video which saw fans claim the star was ‘slurring her speech’ and barely able to keep her eyes open.
The actress, 35, who has publicly battled addiction to alcohol and opioids, left fans speculating she was ‘clearly not sober’ as she spoke about her brother Jansen’s tragic passing and being a mother to her daughter.
Responding to the concerns, Hayden’s representatives told Page Six: ‘Speaking about her brother for the first time was very emotional for her — and it had been a long and exhausting day for her.’
They confirmed: ‘She was not under the influence’.
A source also told the publication that the star ‘fully cooperated’ during the interview and video with People and her team ‘was on set for the duration of the shoot.’
Hayden Panettiere has broken her silence over the ‘slurred speech’ interview with People on Wednesday that had fans fearing for her health
Responding to the concerns, Hayden’s representatives told Page Six : ‘Speaking about her brother for the first time was very emotional for her — and it had been a long and exhausting day for her’
The original interview saw Hayden speak about the death of her brother Jansen aged 28 in 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’ and motherhood to daughter Kaya, nine.
As Hayden opened up about her only child being her ‘mini- me’ fans were left concerned by her slurred speech.
Hayden said of her daughter – whose father is the star’s ex-fiance Wladimir Klitschko, 48 – said: ‘She’s beautiful and she came out just like me.
‘Talk about nature versus nurture. I mean this little girl literally came out not just her face resembling mine but she is my personality she just is…
‘Maybe she’ll be a director.’
Followers commented: ‘Slurred speech eyes can barely stay open, trying to make it through long words clearly not sober. Very sad’ with DWTS professional Peta Murgatroyd writing: ‘This interview should be removed ASAP!’
Another fan wrote: ‘This is complete exploitation. This is an addict who is clearly very unsober.’
Others wrote: ‘You really didn’t need to post this and do further harm this is just sad’, ‘I’m shocked this is posted…it’s uncomfortable and sad to watch’ and ‘Feels like someone is capitalizing on addiction, this should not have been posted.’
The actress, 35, who has publicly battled addiction to alcohol and opioids, left fans speculating she was ‘clearly not sober’ as she spoke about her brother Jansen’s tragic passing and being a mother to her daughter
Followers commented: ‘Slurred speech eyes can barely stay open, trying to make it through long words clearly not sober. Very sad’ with DWTS professional Peta Murgatroyd writing: ‘This interview should be removed ASAP!’
‘This is so uncomfortable to watch’, ‘Umm drunk’, ‘please get help honey’, ‘This is terrible to watch’ and ‘I see I’m not the only one that ran to the comments to figure out what is going on…kind of concerning.’
Some fans wrote the star was giving ‘Anna Nicole Smith vibes’ referring to the death of the famed Guess model who passed in 2007 from drug intoxication.
DailyMail.com contacted representatives for the star for comment.
In the interview Hayden got emotional as she opened up about her rapid weight gain after the sudden loss of her brother – admitting that she ‘lived in sweatpants’ and ‘unflattering’ T-shirts because she ‘hated’ the way she looked and was terrified to leave the house.
Jansen passed away in February 2023 and now the Heroes alum, 35, has spoken about how his shock death impacted her – explaining that it felt like she ‘lost half of her soul’.
She also revealed that the ‘stress’ from his passing resulted in her body ‘ballooning out’, which left her in a ‘really bad’ and ‘destructive’ place.
‘When my little brother passed away my body did something I’ve never really seen it do before,’ she said.
‘Within days, I basically ballooned out. I know stress and cortisol running through your body can do that.’
The star said she ‘tried everything’ to shed the pounds but, no matter what she did, she couldn’t lose weight.
‘I tried everything, everything unhealthy, everything healthy,’ she continued. ‘It didn’t matter what I ate, it didn’t matter what I did.
‘My body was just like protecting itself, shielding itself from the world.’
Hayden said she began to get so self-conscious about the way that she looked she developed agoraphobia – a fear of going outside.
The actress’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, passed away in February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’. They’re seen together in 2011
While reflecting on her brother’s death, Hayden admitted that she still feels like she’ll never ‘get over the loss of him’. They’re seen in 2013
‘I lived in sweatpants and a T-shirt, things that swallowed me up and were not flattering on me,’ she recalled.
‘It took me so long to pick out an outfit that I felt comfortable enough in to leave the house just to go meet up with my friends.
‘It became this really bad, destructive hamster wheel of like, do I feel good enough to go out? I don’t feel confident enough to but if I don’t go out and I don’t keep moving then I’m never going to move away from looking like this.’
While reflecting on her brother’s death, Hayden admitted that she still feels like she’ll never ‘get over the loss of him’.
‘He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him. When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul,’ she said as she held back tears.
‘I remember saying to somebody, ‘Don’t ever, ever expect me to get over the loss of him.’
Jansen passed away in February 2023 at the age of 28 after he was found ‘unresponsive’ by friends in his apartment in Nyack, New York.
Afterwards, sources told DailyMail.com that he previously struggled with drug addiction, and had gone to rehab a year before his shock death.
Hayden has spoken openly about her own battles with addiction – previously revealing by the time she was 15, that someone on her team began giving her ‘happy pills’ so that she would be ‘peppy during interviews.’
‘I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction,’ she told the outlet.
By the time she was 16 years old, she was drinking and taking opioids regularly – whenever she wasn’t on set filming for Heroes.
‘As I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without,’ she shared, revealing that her addiction got worse as she filmed Nashville and suffered from post-partum depression.
When she entered rehab in 2015 she said it was her idea: ‘I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center. I was drowning.’
She hit rock-bottom after filming for Nashville wrapped in 2018. She sent Kaya to live with her father Klitschhko, in Ukraine and was eventually hospitalized for jaundice and told my doctors that her ‘liver was going to give out.’
Hayden has spoken openly about her own battles with addiction – previously revealing by the time she was 15, that someone on her team began giving her ‘happy pills’ so that she would be ‘peppy during interviews’
Upon turning 30, the household name found herself in another 12-step program, where participants are encouraged to embrace a life of complete abstinence from all mind altering substances, including alcohol.
In 2022, she spoke publicly of her struggles for the first time, ‘I’d think I hit rock bottom, but then there’s that trap door that opens.’
‘I was on top of the world and I ruined it,’ she admitted..
In April she announced memoir Scream And Break Free: Addiction, Trauma, and How the Cheerleader Saved Herself.
