Apple cider vinegar Is Pilates for you? 'Ambient gaslighting' 'Main character energy'
PEOPLE
Hayden Panettiere

Hayden Panettiere: Postpartum depression 'needs to be talked about'

Kelly Lawler
USA TODAY
Hayden Panettiere arrives at the 2014 Emmy Awards.

Hayden Panettiere wants us to talk about postpartum depression more openly.

When the Nashville star, 26, stopped by Live with Kelly and Michael Monday, she opened up about her own experiences with postpartum depression, after she gave birth to daughter Kaya Evdokia in December of last year:

“I can very much relate. It’s something a lot of women experience. When (you’re told) about postpartum depression you think it’s ‘I feel negative feelings towards my child, I want to injure or hurt my child’ — I’ve never, ever had those feelings. Some women do. But you don’t realize how broad of a spectrum you can really experience that on. It’s something that needs to be talked about. Women need to know that they’re not alone, and that it does heal.” 

Panettiere went on to lament the fact that postpartum depression is often so misunderstood, by women and the people around them.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding — there’s a lot of people out there that think that it’s not real, that it’s not true, that it’s something that’s made up in their minds, that ‘Oh, it’s hormones.’ They brush it off. It’s something that’s completely uncontrollable. It’s really painful and it’s really scary and women need a lot of support.”

The actress also had a very heartwarming message in the end:

“Women are amazing. We do something that no man can do on this planet. I mean, we grow a human being in our body!” 

Featured Weekly Ad