Hayden Panettiere Slams ‘Nashville’ Writers for Using Her Real Troubles as Story Lines on Show

Hayden Panettiere couldn’t escape her personal troubles on the set of the 2012–2018 drama Nashville. The 34-year-old recently lashed out at writers on the ABC show for using her real life as story lines for her country music star character, Juliette — including her struggle with alcoholism and decision to relinquish custody of her daughter to her ex-husband, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

“They turned [Juliette] into an alcoholic. Then they turned to her leaving her daughter and going to this crazy [place] in Europe and it was very obvious they weren’t doing their homework,” Hayden griped to The Messenger. “They weren’t creating new story lines. There were just looking at my life and going, ‘Oh, let’s just take what she’s going through and put our little spin on it.’”

For the Heroes alum, it was a traumatic experience having to rehash her issues during 20-hour days on set. “I just wanted to drum it out and watch mindless television,” she told the pub. “Anything to keep my mind off of that because I knew the next day I was going to be back at it again. I was like, tear central.”