US star Hayden Panettiere on why she vanished from Hollywood at the height of her career

She was one of the biggest US TV stars of the 2000s and 2010s, but then she disappeared as her career was ready to go to new heights.

Hayden Panettiere has opened up about her surprising decision to quit Hollywood at the height of her successful TV and movie career.

The Scream actress, 35, who has battled addictions to alcohol and drugs in the past, revealed that she reached a point where she “desperately” needed to leave Hollywood.

“I had taken four years off. Didn’t know or plan to, but that’s just the way it panned out,” Panettiere, who last year sparked fears after she was seen in interviews with slurred speech, explained during an interview with US Weekly. “And I desperately needed it.”

Hayden Panettiere has opened up about why she decided to disappear from Hollywood. Picture: Getty.

Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere in smash hit TV series Nashville. Picture: Supplied

“It’s healthy to continue to keep evolving as a person. Which I always try to do to keep reinventing ourselves and learning more things about ourselves and our wants and needs and dislikes and all the above,” she shared. “But I’ve never been this version of me, I’ve never been as OK with being who I am without feeling the need to apologise for anything. I feel like I’ve finally earned the right to an opinion.”

It’s been a difficult few years for the star, who battled addiction issues which sparked her ex-husband, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, to take their daughter away and move to Ukraine.

The former Heroes actress was forced to break her silence last year after interview footage of her slurring her speech went viral on social media leaving fans concerned about her wellbeing.

Panettiere relinquished custody of her daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, to her ex-boyfriend, Wladimir Klitschko, in 2018. Picture: Instagram.

“It’s unfathomable that I’m even in this position, but I feel forced to address it in a space where I won’t be criticised for how fast or slow I speak,’ she explained to her followers, revealing that she hadn’t slept for two days due to her pet undergoing an emergency surgery and that the interview couldn’t be rescheduled.

“It was an 8-hour shoot followed by an on-camera interview that was supposed to last for 1 hour. The interview started well, and for the record, its beginning is not included in the version People Magazine posted. I was exhausted,” she continued.

“My rep stopped the interview early as it became obvious that I was fading - especially as the subject matter became heavier.”

Panettiere was referring to the discussion of her younger brother, Jansen, who tragically died aged just 28 in September last year due to an undiagnosed heart condition.

In a subsequent interview she was questioned whether she felt she had managed to come to terms with his tragic passing, to which she responded: “I don’t know that I fully have. I think it’s something that transforms over time.”

Hayden will next be seen on screen in the upcoming movie A Breed Apart, which hits cinemas and VOD on May 16th.

Originally published as US star Hayden Panettiere on why she vanished from Hollywood at the height of her career