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"I had taken four years off. Didn’t know or plan to, but that’s just the way it panned out," the Nashville actress said, describing her time out of the spotlight.
Hayden Panettiere is feeling grateful for her time away from Hollywood.
In an interview with Us Weekly, the Bring It On star discussed her four-year break from acting and how it has been a transformative experience for her.
"I had taken four years off. Didn't know or plan to, but that's just the way it panned out," Panettiere said or her "organic" hiatus. "And I desperately needed it."
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View StoryWith her departure, she said she has been able to reflect on her life through a different lens.
"I feel much more solid and grounded in this world, the crazy world that we live in," she described," adding that this new version of herself is always "evolving and changing.”
"It's healthy to continue to keep evolving as a person. Which I always try to do to keep reinventing ourselves and learning more things about ourselves and our wants and needs and dislikes and all the above," she shared. "But I've never been this version of me, I've never been as OK with being who I am without feeling the need to apologize for anything. I feel like I’ve finally earned the right to an opinion."
She credited her support system of "people she can count on" for motivating her to get back into the business again, while also remaining positive and hopeful for the next chapters in her life.
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The Scream actress said she's now channel different parts of herself in her new horror-comedy, A Breed Apart.
"The biggest thing that drew me to this character was the action part of it. It's fun. You get to be physical. I get to use my athleticism," she said. "And also working with cameras and at the same time, and it’s just like this perfect dance that has to be created. It adds a whole other element to what we do."
Panettiere took a break from the spotlight following Nashville.
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View StoryIn the years that followed, she opened up about her battles with alcohol and drug addition, which led to her daughter Kaya moving to Ukraine for a while with her ex, Wladimir Klitschko. She also dealt with the pain that came with losing her brother Jansen to an enlarged heart in 2023.
She returned to acting in 2023 with Scream IV, reprising her role as Kirby Reed.
A Breed Apart hits theaters and streaming on Friday, May 16.
