• Hayden Panettiere addressed claims she “abandoned” daughter Kaya, now 11, after signing over custody in 2018
• The actress opened up on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast about battling addiction, anxiety, and postpartum depression
• Ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko requested Kaya live with him full-time in Ukraine when she was 2 years old
• Panettiere says she and Kaya have an “intense” and “incredible” bond and regularly FaceTime despite the distance
• She also cleared up the misconception that she was forced into treatment — insisting she was the one who sought help

Hayden Panettiere has had enough of the narrative. The Heroes and Nashville alum got emotional on Monday’s episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast while addressing years of public speculation about her decision to sign over full custody of her daughter, Kaya, to ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko back in 2018 — a decision made at one of the darkest points of her life.

“The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be OK with it is heartbreaking,” the 36-year-old told host Jay Shetty. “It couldn’t be further from the truth.”

What followed was a rare, unflinching look at what Panettiere was privately going through while still trying to hold herself together publicly. “It became this horrible cycle for years of battling depression and anxiety and alcoholism and substance abuse and just me trying to find my way back,” she said. “I completely lost myself.”

How the Custody Decision Actually Happened

Panettiere and Klitschko — who dated on and off from 2009 before getting engaged in 2013 and welcoming Kaya in 2014 — split in August 2018. Around that time, as Hayden was struggling, Klitschko raised the idea of Kaya, then just 2 years old, coming to live with him full-time in Ukraine.

Her reaction? Pure instinct.

“I did not have a good reaction to it,” she admitted. “I went like mother lion. I would’ve burnt the world down for my child. So that was incredibly difficult.”

But she also knew, on some level, that she needed help — and that her daughter deserved stability she couldn’t offer in that moment. “‘I desperately need help,'” she recalled telling herself. “‘I know this is going to look terrible, but I cannot live like this anymore.'” Signing over custody, she has previously described, was the “most heartbreaking thing” she’s ever had to do — a “living nightmare” during one of the lowest periods of her life.

She also pushed back hard on a long-running misconception: that she had been forced into treatment by those around her. “The misconception is that I have been in the past forced into treatment when, in fact, I have been the one who sought it out,” she told Shetty directly.

Where Things Stand With Kaya Today

Now 11, Kaya has built what Panettiere describes as a genuinely beautiful life in Europe — learning five languages, taking up horseback riding, making friends, and becoming rooted in a world her mother ultimately chose not to uproot.

“So by the time I finally got healthy, I felt like it would have been unfair of me — and selfish of me — to try and pull her out and away from this life that she had created,” Panettiere said.

But distance hasn’t meant disconnection. Hayden says she travels as often as she can to see Kaya and that FaceTime has become its own kind of intimacy — the two “talk about really deep things,” she said. She described their bond as “intense” and “incredible,” and was clear about one thing: “In no way does she feel abandoned. I know in my heart that she feels supported.”

It’s a complicated story — one that doesn’t fit neatly into the “bad mom” box the internet tried to put her in. And Panettiere, clearly, is done letting that version stand unchallenged.

The post Hayden Panettiere Fires Back at ‘Abandoned’ Daughter Claims appeared first on Cream.

• Taylor Frankie Paul posted a lengthy Mother’s Day message calling out people in her circle for “kicking while I’m already down”
• A judge awarded her nearly 12 hours of parent-time on May 10, from 9 AM to 8:30 PM
• Her weekly parenting time has increased from 8 hours to 12 hours, in three supervised four-hour blocks
• TFP and Dakota Mortensen have mutual restraining orders and a custody hearing scheduled for June 1
• Salt Lake City prosecutors declined to press domestic violence charges against Paul due to lack of evidence and statute of limitations

Taylor Frankie Paul made it very clear she had things to say on Mother’s Day — and she wasn’t going to hold back.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star took to social media on Sunday with a long, emotionally charged post that opened with a statement of intent: “It’s Mother’s Day so I’ll say whatever I want.” What followed was a raw, pointed message that appeared to call out people in her inner circle for what she described as betrayal during one of the hardest stretches of her life.

Paul wrote that she felt certain people were “kicking while I’m already down” — and took particular issue with someone she accused of framing their actions as “setting a boundary” while placing the blame on her for reacting. She pushed back on what she called public mischaracterization, saying she has never claimed to be a “victim” but is still human with limits. She also suggested she was being discussed in conversations she was never given the chance to be part of, let alone respond to.

The post touched on legal issues, relationship trauma, and pregnancy-related challenges — and the frustration of feeling like the people around her don’t fully understand the psychological weight she’s been carrying. The tone was pointed, but she ended on a note of faith and gratitude toward the supporters who have shown up for her.

The Mother’s Day She Actually Got

What made Sunday even more significant: it was the first Mother’s Day in a while where Paul actually got to spend real time with her kids. According to court documents, a judge awarded her parent-time from 9 AM to 8:30 PM — nearly a full day with her son, who she’s seen only in limited windows since video surfaced of her accidentally hitting one of her children with a barstool during an argument with baby dad Dakota Mortensen.

Her weekly parenting time is also getting a bump — up from 8 hours a week to 12 hours, structured as three separate four-hour supervised blocks. It’s a meaningful step forward in what has been a complicated and painful custody situation.

Paul and Mortensen were both granted permanent restraining orders against each other at the end of April, requiring them to stay at least 100 feet apart. Mortensen was awarded temporary primary custody back in March. A follow-up hearing is scheduled for June 1 to work through longer-term custody and parent-time arrangements.

The Legal Cloud That’s Been Hanging Over Her

One significant piece of news that came before Mother’s Day: Salt Lake City prosecutors decided not to press domestic violence charges against Paul. The office confirmed the decision came down to a combination of the statute of limitations and insufficient evidence, noting that “any incidents of misdemeanor offenses which are alleged to have occurred more than two years ago are barred by the statute of limitations” and that more recent incidents were also reviewed before the conclusion was reached. Paul reportedly got emotional when she heard the news.

In a witness statement she filed in March with the Draper County Police Department, Paul made her own allegations against Mortensen, claiming he had a pattern of creating problems for her whenever she was on the verge of something big professionally. “Things like a new season [of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives] coming out or, in this case, the trailers for The Bachelorette starting to run always seem to set him off,” she wrote. She also alleged he sent her messages expressing that he couldn’t bear to watch her fall in love on the show.

What Happens to Her TV Career From Here

SLOMW producers have made clear they want Paul back, and sources say the production has been holding space for her, ready to work at her pace whenever she’s ready to return. As for her Bachelorette season — which was pulled just before it was set to air — ABC never officially called it canceled, only “paused,” and Disney executive Rob Mills has said publicly that whenever it does air, fans will enjoy it because Paul “did a phenomenal job.” With the domestic violence charges off the table, there’s at least a path forward, even if it’s not a guaranteed one.

Castmate Jessi Draper also filed a court declaration in Paul’s defense — a notable move given that just weeks earlier, a shocking audio message obtained by TMZ had Draper going after Paul publicly.

It’s been a brutal few months. But on Sunday, at least, Taylor Frankie Paul got to be with her kids — and she had plenty to say about the people who weren’t there for her when it counted.

The post Taylor Frankie Paul’s Explosive Mother’s Day Post appeared first on Cream.