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Hayden Panettiere: I had a baby and found out who my true friends are

Hayden Panettiere has an interview with Parade Magazine to promote the new season of Nashville, which will be coming out on CMT on January 5th. I wasn’t sure if I would continue watching it, but who am I kidding? I need some more popcorn television and the Hallmark channel holiday specials are not cutting it. I will set my DVR. Hayden has so much respect from me for going public with her battle with postpartum depression, something she talked about openly before seeking inpatient treatment this past spring. She’s out of treatment, her relationship with her fiance seems solid, and it sounds like she’s on the other side of what she went through. In her interview with Parade, she hints that she had fairweather friends who ditched her after she had a baby and good riddance.

You (and the rest of the cast) made the move to Nashville when the show began filming there in 2012. Does it feel like home?
When I first arrived, I remember struggling with the concept of making a place so foreign to me feel like home. I was 22, not a mom [yet] and had no one to answer to but myself. My life was all about having fun, exploring myself and meeting new people. It was filled with late nights, great music and figuring out where I fit in here in Nashville. Then I went through a pregnancy and I found out who my true friends were—the ones that were going to stick around and support me. I’ll just say the outcome was slim pickins! My life became all about staying healthy, getting good sleep, finding parks and nature. Now I’m the mother of a 2-year-old [Kaya Evdokia Klitschko with Ukranian boxer boyfriend Wladimir Klitschko], I’ve found my pack of solid, loyal, lifelong friends here and am settled into a beautiful routine. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a blast. My life and who I am have simply evolved in a beautiful way. So actually Nashville feels like a first home to me!

What’s a typical Sunday like for you now?
My Sundays are about gearing up and preparing for a long workweek. I can’t say that anything is typical or “the norm” about any day of the week now that I’m the mom of a 2-year-old. She gets her hands in just about everything, and my biggest job at the moment is keeping her alive!

[From Parade]

A couple of years ago I found out who my friends were by losing 50 pounds. Once I got fit people saw me differently, but I didn’t feel like a different person and I had my feelings hurt a few times. Then I quit drinking and that was another change that people didn’t want to stick around for. Friends like you when you fit into their lifestyle, their expectations and the things they like to do. When either of you change then the friendship adjusts and people are uncomfortable with that. I imagine that Hayden’s battle with depression also showed her which friends were just there to party with her. Juliette went through a similar struggle on Nashville. I know that show can be soapy and over the top but it does have good writers who get a lot right. I can’t wait to see how those characters are doing.

I loved that line about how her main job is keeping her two year-old daughter alive. I bet Kaya is a spitfire!

💚💙

A photo posted by Hayden Panettiere (@haydenpanettier) on Dec 2, 2016 at 12:30am PST

Photos credit: Fameflynet, Getty and Instagram/Hayden Panettiere

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