In a new interview with The Messenger, Hayden Panettiere said her experience while filming the hit show Nashville was "traumatizing," mostly because the storylines mirrored her own struggles.
Panettiere was on the show for its full run from 2012 to 2018, but it's no secret the former child actor fought personal battles throughout its filming, from battling postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter in 2014 to stints in rehab and problems with her marriage, which ended just after Nashville's final episode.
Reliving her struggles onscreen made managing them at home even more difficult.
"When I went home after acting out what I was really going through, the last thing I wanted to do was properly manage or talk about what I was feeling in a healthy way."
"So I turned to unhealthy coping mechanisms."
Panettiere felt it was obvious from the start that the show was drawing on her own experiences.
"Straight from the beginning, it was like, I'm dating a football player, [and then] Juliette dates a football player, and then they turned her into an alcoholic."
"Then they turned to her leaving her daughter and going to this crazy [place] in Europe, and it was very obvious..."
She continued:
"They weren't doing their homework."
"They weren't creating new storylines. They were looking at my life and going, 'Oh, let's just take what she's going through and put our little spin on it.'"
"And then, ta-da! It's done and done."
The actor then revealed how reliving her struggles onscreen kept her from addressing them in real life.
"I didn't have time to take care of myself [and] to think about and go through the pain I was experiencing physically [and] emotionally."
"I just wanted to drum it out and watch mindless television and great shows. Anything to keep my mind off of that because I knew that next day I was going to be back at it again."
"I was like, tear central. I don't even think on a soap opera that I cried as much [as I did] on 'Nashville.'"
People on social media agreed that what Panettiere experienced must have been difficult.
While Panettiere doesn't necessarily regret working while she was facing battles in her personal life, she does wonder if her life would be much different had she not filmed Nashville.
"I look back at it with curiosity more than anything."
"If I hadn't had done that — if I hadn't accepted 'Nashville' and had all that time to be involved with other projects — then where would I be now?"
"Because it took six years of my career when I was at my physical prime, my mental, my everything, that I just wonder what it would have been like in the hiatuses, [if I] did one project or film, or was encouraged to do that. Where would I be today?"
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