Hayden Panettiere sparks health fears in ‘disturbing’ interview as fans slam star’s ‘slurred speech’

Hayden Panettiere has sparked health fears in a “disturbing” new video in which fans claimed the star was “slurring her speech” and barely able to keep her eyes open.

The 35-year-old actress, who has publicly battled alcohol and opioid addiction, opened up to People about the death of her 28-year-old brother Jansen in 2023 from an “enlarged heart” and mothering her nine-year-old daughter Kaya.

However, a video in which Hayden opened up about her only child being her “mini-me” quickly had fans concerned, who speculated that the star was “clearly not sober.”

Hayden said of her daughter – whose father is the star’s ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, 48 -: “She’s beautiful and she was born like me.

“Let’s talk about nature versus nurture. I mean this little girl literally appeared, not only does her face look like mine, but she has my personality, she’s just…

“Maybe she’ll be a director.”

Followers commented: “I’m having trouble speaking, I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open, I’m trying to get long words out, I’m clearly not sober. This is very sad,” and DWTS alum Peta Murgatroyd wrote: “This interview should be deleted ASAP!”

Another fan wrote: “This is total exploitation. He’s a drug addict who is clearly not very sober.”

Others wrote, “You really didn’t need to post this and cause further harm, it’s just sad,” “I’m shocked this is being posted… it’s uncomfortable and sad to watch,” and “I feel like someone is capitalizing on addiction, this shouldn’t have been posted.”

“This is so uncomfortable to watch,” “Um, I’m drunk,” “Please help me honey,” “This is horrible to watch,” and “I see I’m not the only one who ran to the comments to figure out what’s going on… this is pretty disturbing.”

Some fans wrote that the star gave off “Anna Nicole Smith vibes,” in reference to the death of the famous Guess model, who died in 2007 from drug poisoning.

DailyMail.com has contacted the star’s representatives for comment.

In the interview, Hayden got emotional as she spoke about her rapid weight gain following the sudden loss of her brother – admitting she “lived in sweatpants” and “unflattering” T-shirts because she “hated” the way she looked and was terrified of leaving the house.

Jansen died in February 2023 and now the Heroes alumna, 35, has spoken out about the impact her shock death had on her – explaining she felt like she had “lost half of her soul”.

She also revealed that the “stress” of his death had caused her body to “swell up”, leaving her in a “really bad” and “destructive” state.

“When my little brother passed away, my body did something I had never seen it do before,” she said.

“Within days, I almost exploded. I know that stress and cortisol circulating in your body can cause that.”

The star said she had “tried everything” to lose weight, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t.

“I tried everything, everything unhealthy, everything healthy,” she continued. “No matter what I ate, no matter what I did.”

“My body was protecting itself as if it were protecting itself from the world.”

Hayden said she became so self-conscious about her appearance that she developed agoraphobia – a fear of going outside.

“I lived in sweatpants and T-shirts, things that wrapped around me and didn’t flatter me,” she recalls.

“It took me so long to choose an outfit that I felt comfortable enough to leave the house in just to meet my friends.

“It’s become a destructive labyrinth, like I feel good enough to go out. I don’t have the confidence, but if I don’t go out and keep moving, I’ll never get away from this look.”

Reflecting on her brother’s death, Hayden admitted that she still felt like she would “never get over his loss.”

“He was my only brother and it was my duty to protect him. When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul,” she said, holding back tears.

“I remember telling someone, ‘Don’t ever, ever expect me to get over his loss.’”

Jansen died in February 2023 at the age of 28 after being found “unconscious” by friends in his apartment in Nyack, New York.

Sources later told DailyMail.com that he had previously struggled with drug addiction and had been in rehab a year before his sudden death.

Hayden has spoken openly about his own struggles with addiction – previously revealed by At age 15, someone on her team started giving her “happy pills” so she would be “peppy during interviews.”

“I had no idea that it wasn’t an appropriate thing, or what door it would open for me in terms of my addiction,” she told the outlet.

By the age of 16, she was drinking and taking opioids regularly, whenever she wasn’t on the set of Heroes.

“As I got older, drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without,” she shared, revealing that her addiction worsened while she was filming Nashville and suffering from postpartum depression.

When she entered rehab in 2015, she said it was her idea: “I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center. I was drowning.”

She hit rock bottom after filming on Nashville wrapped in 2018. She sent Kaya to live with her father, Klitschko, in Ukraine and was eventually hospitalized with jaundice and told her doctors her “liver was going to fail.”

At the age of 30, the well-known public figure found himself in another 12-step program, where participants are encouraged to adopt a life of complete abstinence from all mind-altering substances, including alcohol.

In 2022, she spoke publicly about her struggles for the first time: “I thought I had hit rock bottom, but then there’s this trap door that opens.”

“I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” she admitted.

In April, she announced the publication of her memoir Scream And Break Free: Addiction, Trauma, and How the Cheerleader Saved Herself.