Hayden Panettiere's postpartum depression struggle: What's happening with daughter Kaya?

Hayden Panettiere was the mother to one daughter named Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, whom she shared with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.

Following struggles with postpartum depression and addiction, the actress voluntarily transferred full custody of Kaya to the former professional boxer in 2018, after which her daughter primarily lived in Europe and Ukraine.

Hayden Panettiere on her postpartum depression

She opened up about her postpartum depression in her tell-all memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, where, in a heartbreaking admission, she shared that after a strenuous labor and emergency surgery, she "felt nothing" upon meeting her newborn.

"I wasn't OK," Panettiere wrote in her book, which was released May 19. "I had to figure out how to bond with her. It felt like an insurmountable task, and I was only on the first day."

Hayden Panettiere dies at 36: Cause of death revealed 

Panettiere, the former star of the TV series Heroes and Nashville, died on August 16 at age 36 at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.

The Greenville County Coroner's Office has ruled her cause of death to be the "toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, Alprazolam, Methocarbamol and Quetiapine".

According to the office, there were "no signs of trauma" that contributed to Hayden's death, and the "manner of death has been ruled accident".

Hayden Panettiere says her 'soul was dead'

In her book, the Bring It On alum said that following her daughter's birth, she felt like her "soul was dead", and she turned to alcohol to "manufacture happiness".

Around four months after giving birth, Panettiere was drinking a bottle of wine per night, waking up, and immediately finishing a mini bottle of Fireball just to make it through the day. 

At the time, she was also filming Nashville, in which she starred from 2012 to 2018.

"The first thing I'd thought of when I woke up was alcohol. Not my child, not my job, and not the rest of my life. I needed a drink to function — at 6 a.m.," she wrote.

Between seasons three and four of the show, she entered treatment for the first time, where she was officially diagnosed with PPD.

Eventually, Panettiere signed over custody of her daughter and focused on her own healing journey.

Hayden Panettiere calls Kaya 'the greatest gift of my life'

Although Panettiere wrote that she would "fight until I'm dead" for her daughter, she eventually allowed Kaya to move to her father's native Ukraine with him.

"Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life," Panettiere wrote. "Although I miss Kaya so much my heart aches, I know how blessed I am to be her mom. She is the greatest gift of my life."

Postpartum depression on the rise

PPD is on the rise, but it frequently goes undiagnosed.

CDC research reported that one in eight mothers reported experiencing PPD symptoms after birth, though it will never be known how many mothers are experiencing it but are undiagnosed, or think they're just having the "baby blues."

Pregnant and postpartum women with perinatal depression experience extreme sadness, anxiety, and fatigue that may make it difficult to carry out daily tasks, including caring for themselves or others.

Hayden Panettiere's ex-fiancé files petition to protect daughter's inheritance

On Monday, September 28, it was reported that Wladimir Klitschko has filed an urgent petition asking that he be allowed to act as their 11-year-old daughter's temporary representative in California court to protect her inheritance after the death of her mother.

Kaya is Panettiere's sole heir. The filing in the LA County court cites items seized in a federal investigation of the actor's death, unnamed and unauthorised people accessing her residence in Los Angeles, and valuables that are missing.

The petition says it is "urgent and essential" that Klitschko be granted the legal status of temporary guardian of his daughter’s estate.

A hearing on the issue is scheduled for October 8.