Regarding Kaya’s custody, Hayden Panettiere is being honest.
The 33-year-old actress makes an appearance on this week’s new episode of Red Table Talk on Facebook Watch. She speaks candidly about the “very upsetting” experience of giving her ex Wladimir Klitschko custody of her only child to co-hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and guest host Kelly Osbourne.
The signing of the custody papers, according to Panettiere, was the “most terrible thing I’ve ever had to do in my life,” according to a snippet from the RTT conversation that was shared exclusively with PEOPLE.
Banfield Norris presses the actress for further information, “You felt this was an agreement that you got to that it was best that your daughter remain with her dad.”
The actress reveals, “At first it wasn’t because there wasn’t a dialogue. If [Klitschko] had said, “I think because of where you’re at right now and your struggles that you’re having it would be good for her to be over here with me for a while,” I probably would have said, “Okay, that makes sense, I get it, I’ll come there to visit and stuff like that if I had enough of a conversation.”
It was quite upsetting because of the way it was handled, she adds. In my opinion, signing those documents was the hardest and most terrible thing I have ever, ever had to do.
The “documents were to give [Klitschko] complete custody,” Panettiere continued.
She continues, “I was going to go work on myself, I was going to become better, and then things would change and she could come to me and I could have my time with her, but that didn’t happen.
Panettiere discussed her bond with her 7-year-old daughter Kaya in a July interview with PEOPLE.
With a giggle, the Nashville star exclaimed, “Oh my my, that child came out of me.” “She is however smarter than I am. She will also be taller than I am.”
In the midst of her battle with drug and alcohol addiction in 2018, Panettiere made the agonising choice for Kaya to move in with her father, boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, whom she had split from that year.
She remembered, “It was the hardest thing I could do.” “However, the best thing I could do for my daughter was to ensure her safety, look after myself, and ensure that I could be a good mother to her. And on occasion, that entails letting go.”
Wednesdays at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET is when the Facebook Watch original series Red Table Talk is broadcast. Weekly new episodes are streamed.