Hayden Panettiere Responds To Controversial Interview Clip

Hayden Panettiere is speaking out after a video of her went viral for all the wrong reasons.

“I would like to take a moment to address the controversy surrounding an interview I recently completed,” Panettiere said in an Instagram post published Sunday. “It’s unfathomable that I’m even in this position, but I feel forced to address it in a space where I won’t be criticized for how fast or slow I speak.”

Last week, People magazine’s Instagram account published a controversial teaser clip from a larger on-camera interview they recently conducted with Panettiere, who is promoting her upcoming film, “Amber Alert.”

In the clip, the “Heroes” star appears visibly tired, frazzled and speaks very slowly as she tells an anecdote about her young daughter, Kaya. Her demeanor in the clip caused many Instagram users to assume she was intoxicated, noting that her “speech was slurred” and her eyes “could barely stay open.”

Some also speculated that she was having a mental health crisis or was on or off a medication that could have altered her behavior.

Being that Panettiere has been open in the past about her struggles with substance abuse and alcohol addiction, Instagram users condemned People for publishing the clip as well, calling it “exploitative” and demanded the magazine delete the clip from its account.

In Panettiere’s Instagram statement Sunday, she said she was suffering from a lack of sleep and was “exhausted” by the time she sat down for the on-camera interview with People.

“I hadn’t slept for two days prior to the shoot due to one of my dogs who was recovering from an emergency surgical procedure,” the “Remember the Titans” actor said. “It was an 8-hour shoot followed by an on-camera interview that was supposed to last for 1 hour.”

Panettiere noted in her statement that she felt she began the interview strong.

“The interview started well, and for the record, its beginning is not included in the version PEOPLE Magazine posted,” she wrote.

Panettiere said that once she started visibly losing steam during the interview, her publicist jumped in and ended it early, “as it became obvious that I was fading — especially as the subject matter became heavier.”

The topics People was asking Panettiere to discuss could have been emotionally draining for her to answer as well.

Although Panettiere has often spoken lovingly about her daughter, she has a painful history with Kaya. After the “Scream” actor gave birth to her daughter in 2014, Panettiere said she experienced postpartum depression and eventually turned to alcoholism. In 2018, she relinquished custody of Kaya after the girl’s father, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, demanded that Kaya stay with him in Ukraine.

People also posted another teaser clip of Panettiere’s interview on its Instagram account in which they ask her about her late brother and fellow actor, Jansen Panettiere, who died suddenly last year of cardiomegaly at age 28.

Panettiere said in her statement that after she and her publicist pulled the plug on the interview, they asked People’s reporter “if we could re-do it another day or do a follow up interview on zoom.” “She assured us that it wasn’t necessary, and that she felt it was an emotional and heartfelt interview,” Panettiere wrote. “We were also told they would edit it and that it would be a beautiful piece.”

Panettiere then addressed the remarks Instagram users left in the comment section of People’s clip.

“Grief looks different on everyone,” Panettiere wrote. “Whether or not I am on medication is none of anyone’s business and is between me and my doctor.”

Panettiere concluded by addressing what she felt was the “real issue” in the controversial clip, which she chalked up to “the toxicity of social media, and a news cycle that is driven by click bait.”

“Mental health is so important, and I hope those reading this now understand that what you say hiding behind a computer screen can have a detrimental impact on someone,” she wrote.

“For those of you who have come to my defense amidst this chaos I am so grateful. Like I’ve said before, I am a work in progress. We all are.”

Not long after People posted its controversial clip of Panettiere last week, representatives of the actor told Page Six in a statement that she “was not under the influence” during the interview.

“Speaking about her brother for the first time was very emotional for her ― and it had been a long and exhausting day for her,” the statement said.