14 DAY TRIAL // Actress Hayden Panettiere has checked into rehab to receive treatment for post-partum depression, her publicist confirms for Us Weekly in a statement.
The new mom, who welcomed daughter Kaya with fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in December 2014, had revealed in a recent interview that she’d struggled with PPD, even saying that there needed to be an honest conversation on the topic so that new moms didn’t think they were alone and “crazy.”
Hayden seeks help for PPD
Despite the admission, Hayden made a point of keeping up appearances on her social media and in her other interviews, promoting her role on “Nashville.” Ironically, on the show, she plays a woman who suffers from severe post-partum depression, which is why she came clean about her own experience in the first place: she could “relate,” she said.
This shouldn’t be a taboo topic, especially since it affected so many new moms. Presumably, her publicist’s announcement is also part of her attempt to bring the issue into the spotlight, by using her own example.
“Hayden Panettiere is voluntarily seeking professional help at a treatment center as she is currently battling postpartum depression,” her publicist says in the statement. “She asks that the media respect her privacy during this time.”
No other details were offered.
PPD is nothing to be ashamed of
Recent studies indicate that as many as 16 percent of new moms will experience post-partum depression, which is treated like “regular” depression, with a combination of counseling and drugs.
Manifestations can vary, as Hayden also said in the aforementioned interview, and they are not limited to having negative feelings towards the baby.
This is why it’s important for people to talk about it, because it might go unnoticed and lead to something even more serious down the road. PPD is nothing to be ashamed of and it doesn’t make a woman “crazy,” the pint-sized actress stressed. So she shouldn’t be alone during it.
Since the birth of Kaya, Hayden has been very vocal about her fiancé Wladimir, whom she’s been praising as a great hands-on father whichever chance she gets.
As you can see from one of her most recent tweets, Hayden has also been working on getting her pre-pregnancy body back. She admitted that she gained more weight than she would have wanted, about 43 pounds (19.5 kg) of it, which seemed even more on her small frame.
Feeling like I'm #finally coming back in to my own body!mother #daughter #blessing #wellworthit @bonesthenskin pic.twitter.com/ZwUDyo4MhF
— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) October 10, 2015