Hayden Panettiere Details Daughter's 'Traumatic Reaction' After Losing Custody

Actress Hayden Panettiere has shared that her daughter, Kaya had a "trauma reaction after she moved to live with her ex Wladimir Klitschko.

The ex-couple started dating in 2009, broke off, and reunited several times before splitting finally in 2018. The actress lost custody of her daughter amid her struggles with alcohol addiction which forced her to go to rehab.

She shared that her daughter began asking other women if she could call them mommy and described that losing custody of Kaya was heartbreaking. Panettiere also disclosed that she is only allowed to visit Kaya and hopes that the custody arrangement will change.

Keep reading to learn more.

In the "Today" show's sneak peek of her "Red Table Talk" episode, which will air fully on Wednesday, Panettiere detailed the "trauma reaction" of her daughter, Kaya, after her ex Klitschko was granted full custody of her.

The actress in the past suffered from alcohol addiction which played a part in losing custody of her 7-year-old. Kaya then moved to live with her father in Ukraine and began a peculiar act of "asking other women if she can call them Mommy."

"I remember her dad calling me, and he said, 'Kaya is going around and asking other women if she can call them Mommy,' and my breath hitched, and my heart stopped, and he was laughing," Panettiere said on the show to Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield-Norris and guest co-host Kelly Osbourne.

"He thought this was funny, and it was horrifying to me," she added via Today.

While the retired boxer found the entire to be comical, the Nashville alum was rather "horrified" in that she believed her daughter's action was due to the trauma of living so far away from her mother and hence needed a semblance of that relationship.

The actress continued: "He didn't get it as to me who saw, that's a trauma reaction. That's a cry for help. I said immediately, 'Can I talk to my daughter?' And when I asked her about it she went into 'goo goo gaga' speak. Like, just talking gibberish. I never before ever heard her do that. It was a trauma that she was experiencing, me not being around."

Panettiere has since gone into rehab to help her deal with her long-term alcohol addiction. However, she still regrets that she lost custody of her child because of her actions.

On the show, the actress described that losing her child was "very upsetting" and one of her life's most "heartbreaking" moments. She shared that the custody transfer was not up for discussion, given her battle with her addiction at the time.

Although she is well today, Panettiere acknowledged gloomily that this has not impacted the present custody arrangement and added that there was no evidence it will change anytime soon. In the meantime, she is only allowed to go over to visit her daughter in her current location.

The actress explained in another scene, per Page Six: "I've been told that I can go over and see her anytime. "I just have to keep the hope that one day when she is old enough for her opinion to be respected a little bit more and her wants are heard, that there will be more proactivity on that side."

The "Heroes" alum went on to share that she considers her ex to be a "fantastic father" and believes he only acted in the best interest of their daughter. However, she opined that Kaya's separation from her might impact her negatively regardless of her past.

"Kids need their moms," the Golden Globe nominee said elsewhere on the show (via Page Six.) "I had never endangered her or done anything that would, in this country, they would never take a child from me.

"It never would have happened," Panettiere added. "When she was there, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place."

Panettiere and Klitschko dated on and off from 2009 to 2018. The pair welcomed their daughter in 2014, and called it quits in 2018 amid the actress' struggles with addiction.