Hayden Panettierethought her daughter Kaya was only on a visit with her father in Ukraine when the actress realized the toddler would be staying for good.The actress, 33, appears on this week’s new episode of Facebook Watch’sRed Table Talk, opening up to co-hostsJada Pinkett Smith,Adrienne Banfield Norris, and guest host Kelly Osbourne about the custody of her only child, daughter Kaya. In 2018, amidst Panettiere’sbattle with addiction to alcohol and pills, Kaya went to go live in Ukraine with her father, boxing champWladimir Klitschko, from whom Panettiere split that year."[Kaya] was almost 3 and it wasn’t fully my decision," Panettiere says of relinquishing custody to Klitschko. “In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there.““I thought this was an agreement that you came to that you felt it was best that your daughter be with her dad,” Banfield Norris asks the actress to clarify.Michael Kovac/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty"I was gonna go work on myself and I was gonna get better, and when I got better that things could change and she could come to me and I could have my time with her,” theNashvillestar explains. “But that didn’t happen.“Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.“I thought she was going over to visit him like she always did,” the actress says. “[Kaya] would go back and forth from me in Nashville and Ukraine, and then once she was over there, it was immediately ‘I want full custody of her,’ which was a shock to me.“It was very upsetting signing those papers to give him full custody. It was like the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life,” adds Panettiere. “In a country where her uncle [Vitali Klitschko] is the mayor and they are icons over there, it’s a country where it’s very male-dominated. There wasn’t a heck of a lot I could do.“RELATED VIDEO: Hayden Panettiere on Her Relationship with ‘Smart, Funny’ Daughter Kaya, 7: ‘She Still Loves Me’In July, Panettiere spoke to PEOPLE about herrelationship with her now 7-year-old daughter Kaya.“Oh my gosh, that child came out of me,” said theHeroesstar with a laugh. “But she is smarter than me. And she’s going to be taller than me!“The Facebook Watch original seriesRed Table Talkairs Wednesdays at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. New episodes stream weekly.
Hayden Panettierethought her daughter Kaya was only on a visit with her father in Ukraine when the actress realized the toddler would be staying for good.
The actress, 33, appears on this week’s new episode of Facebook Watch’sRed Table Talk, opening up to co-hostsJada Pinkett Smith,Adrienne Banfield Norris, and guest host Kelly Osbourne about the custody of her only child, daughter Kaya. In 2018, amidst Panettiere’sbattle with addiction to alcohol and pills, Kaya went to go live in Ukraine with her father, boxing champWladimir Klitschko, from whom Panettiere split that year.
“[Kaya] was almost 3 and it wasn’t fully my decision,” Panettiere says of relinquishing custody to Klitschko. “In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there.”
“I thought this was an agreement that you came to that you felt it was best that your daughter be with her dad,” Banfield Norris asks the actress to clarify.
Michael Kovac/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty
“I was gonna go work on myself and I was gonna get better, and when I got better that things could change and she could come to me and I could have my time with her,” theNashvillestar explains. “But that didn’t happen.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“I thought she was going over to visit him like she always did,” the actress says. “[Kaya] would go back and forth from me in Nashville and Ukraine, and then once she was over there, it was immediately ‘I want full custody of her,’ which was a shock to me.
“It was very upsetting signing those papers to give him full custody. It was like the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life,” adds Panettiere. “In a country where her uncle [Vitali Klitschko] is the mayor and they are icons over there, it’s a country where it’s very male-dominated. There wasn’t a heck of a lot I could do.”
RELATED VIDEO: Hayden Panettiere on Her Relationship with ‘Smart, Funny’ Daughter Kaya, 7: ‘She Still Loves Me’
In July, Panettiere spoke to PEOPLE about herrelationship with her now 7-year-old daughter Kaya.
“Oh my gosh, that child came out of me,” said theHeroesstar with a laugh. “But she is smarter than me. And she’s going to be taller than me!”
The Facebook Watch original seriesRed Table Talkairs Wednesdays at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. New episodes stream weekly.
source: people.com
