Panettiere quickly became one of the most successful child stars of her generation, providing the voice of Princess Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, before starring as an American-football-obsessed child in Remember the Titans alongside Denzel Washington and, from the age of 16, as Claire Bennett in the superhero drama series Heroes. By 17, Heroes had turned Panettiere into a household name in the US, and she would come to be relentlessly stalked by leering paparazzi, scrutinised in the tabloid media and sexually propositioned by a 40-something Hollywood actor.
As has become an all-too-familiar story for child stars, Panettiere turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with the demands of fame. Her dependence on alcohol escalated following the traumatising birth of her first child in 2014 (with heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko), during which she almost died from haemorrhaging. In her next relationship, she was subject to serious domestic violence. By the age of 30, her drinking had got so bad that her doctor told her she would have five years to live without treatment; Panettiere checked herself into rehab for eight months.
Here are the most disturbing claims from Panettiere’s book, which has shocked Hollywood.
She was offered ‘happy pills’ aged 16
When Panettiere was around 16, a former representative pulled her aside before she stepped on to the red carpet to promote the first season of Heroes, and offered her a “happy pill”. Panettiere obliged, since “I trusted the people I worked with”. Within minutes, she felt elated and high.
Panettiere now suspects the pills were some kind of amphetamine. “With this happy pill, I was a brand new Hayden,” she writes. “Within a few months, my former rep didn’t need to surreptitiously pass me pills anymore. Instead, before every interview, I asked her for one.” This became the “gateway drug that ushered me toward the good of pharmaceuticals and the downfall of addiction”.
Paparazzi caused her to develop body dysmorphia at 17
When Heroes became one of the most-watched series on American television – with its first season drawing 14 million viewers – Panettiere realised that “there was a target plastered on my thighs” by the paparazzi, even when she was as young as 17.
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