Hayden Panettiere has revealed her young daughter asks other women if she can call them mummy.
The Nashville star, 33, opened up about co-parenting with her estranged partner Wladimir Klitschko, 46, with whom she shares a daughter Kaya, seven.
She joined Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris and guest host Kelly Osbourne on this week’s episode of Red Table Talk about losing custody of her daughter.
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“I also remember her dad calling me and he said, ‘Kaya’s going around and asking other women if she can call them mummy',” she said.
“And my breath hitched and my heart stopped, and he was laughing. He thought this was funny, and it was horrifying to me. He didn’t get it as it was to me, who saw, that’s a trauma reaction. That’s a cry for help. I said immediately, ‘Can I talk with my daughter?’.
She revealed in the same interview her ‘heartbreaking’ decision to give up custody of her daughter was out of her hands.
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Kaya was almost three years old when she was sent to live with her father, a former boxer, in Ukraine.
Hayden and Wladimir started dating in 2009 and split up in 2018, this is when conversations about the custody of their daughter arose.
Recalling a phone conversation with Kaya, Hayden said her daughter went into ‘goo-goo-ga-ga-speak’ when they spoke.
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“I’d never before heard her do that in her life and that pushed it even further for me to knowing it was a trauma that she was experiencing,” Hayden shared.
“You know, me not being around. So, I mean, as much as I have tried to explain how much she needs her mum and how it’s going to rear its ugly head later when she is older, and it could turn into anger, depression, sadness, whatever it is, but its going to be trauma.
“You know, you can explain it to somebody who doesn’t understand that concept or doesn’t believe it [until] you’re blue in the face.”
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Hayden said the custody of her daughter was not up for ‘discussion’ given her circumstances at the time. The Bring it On star has struggled with substance abuse and depression.
She revealed to People in 2018 that she had had trouble with alcohol abuse and opioid use that stemmed from her early years of fame.
"At first it was not because it wasn't a discussion,” she shared on the show.
"If [Wladimir Klitschko] had come to me and 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' - which if I had probably had enough of a conversation I would've said 'okay that makes sense, I get it, I'll come there to visit', and stuff like that."
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Hayden clarified that she signed papers to give Wladimir full custody of her daughter, but always thought she'd eventually get shared custody back.
She continued: “Because of the way that it was done, it was very upsetting.”
Tyla has contacted Wladimir Klitschko's representatives for comment.
Gregory Robinson