Hayden Panettiere has not been shy about her postpartum depression ever since she first opened up about it back in September. Now that she has undergone treatment, she feels like a whole new person and is going to continue to spread the word on the very serious illness.
While on the red carpet at the Critics' Choice Awards last night, the 26-year-old "Nashville" star opened up about how her life has been going since she voluntarily entered a treatment center in October and how walking the red carpet again feels new.
"It feels different for me because of things that I've gone through recently, over the last year," she told People. "I've really gone, 'You know what, I've been in this industry for so long, forget it!' I've been hiding myself. Just putting out the smiling face, showing people this and allowing that veil to come down - it's like a weight off my shoulders. I'm 26 years old. I'm a mom. I don't need to be afraid of what people are going to think. I saw how much people rallied behind me when I was honest, and I didn't know that honest could be such a gift."
This was Panettiere's first red carpet appearance since she entered treatment, and she admitted that she "enjoyed it so much more because I don't feel like I have to hide anymore."
While giving birth to Kaya with fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in December 2014 was a blessing, she definitely struggled after, and wants to continue being open about it to bring awareness.
"It made my life better," she told E! News Sunday of going public with her struggles. "I do feel and hope it's made other people's lives better and more of an understanding because postpartum depression was not something that I ever understood. You could never understand it unless you have a personal involvement with it. I didn't realize how much of a stigma it had about it."
Over the past several months, she's learned more than she ever thought she would.
"I've been doing this for so long and I feel like I have been hiding who I really am and was just afraid, terrified that someone was going to judge, someone wasn't going to like something that I said, something that I wore, something that I did," she explained. "I want to put out a good example for my daughter and tell her that she could be anyone she wants to be, she does not have to be afraid that somebody's not going to like it because no matter what you do, there's always going to be somebody who doesn't like it."
"I was floored by the positive response and really happy I could stand up for women who are out there suffering from this and let them know it's OK, they're not alone," she continued. "It doesn't mean they're weak. It doesn't mean they're a bad mom. It doesn't mean they're strange, and that they could get help if they need it."
When Panettiere entered the treatment facility, she had to take a temporary medical leave from her hit series "Nashville," but earlier this month, news broke that she would be returning to the show, as HNGN previously reported. She was back on set Jan. 8, and her character, Juliette Barnes, will be returning to the ABC country musical drama for episode 14 of Season 4. "Nashville" comes back from its midseason break March 16, and her first episode will air sometime in April.
