Hayden Panettiere Speaks About Addiction, If Her Daughter Kaya, 8, Is Aware of What She's Been Through, What Plastic Surgery Procedure She Had Done in November & More in 'Women's Health'

On using alcohol and opioids to cope…

At 22 years old, Hayden moved to Nashville and began using alcohol as an “act of defiance.”

Hayden explained, “I was being told how to be and how to live by so many people in my life. I wanted certain decisions to be my own, and nobody could stop me. What I put in my body was like an act of defiance.”

She gave birth to her daughter, Kaya, in 2014 and suffered postpartum depression. She described feelings of “extreme hopelessness” and “like all the walls are closing in.”

To add to all of this, she began taking opioids to deal with a neck injury.

“I should have gone on antidepressants [to cope with the postpartum depression], but you have to find the right one that works for you. They don’t mix well with alcohol, and I wasn’t ready to stop drinking.”

Keep reading to see the physical toll alcohol took on her body…