I was one of the hottest TV stars of the noughties but addiction battle turned my eyes yellow and my hair fell out | The Sun

A NOUGHTIES TV star has opened up about how a battle with addiction took her from being one of TV's hottest stars to losing her hair.

The actress revealed that she was also left with yellow eyes after struggling with drugs and alcohol in her twenties.

Hayden Panettiere, who rose to fame on NBC superhero drama Heroes, descended into addiction after finding fame.

Hayden, 33, who also starred in drama Nashville in 2012, admitted she turned to the bottle to cope with post-partum depression.

The star took opioid painkillers to deal with a neck injury which left her in "a lot of pain", she "mixed" them with alcohol, and they became a "problem".

The mother-of-one, who shares her daughter Kaya with her ex partner Wladimir Klitschko, admitted she was forced to follow a 12-step programme to overcome her addiction woes.

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She told Women's Health UK of her addiction: "I wanted certain decisions to be my own, and no one could stop me. What I put in my body was like an act of defiance."

The substance abuse saw her experience sleep deprivation and have extensive liver damage, that caused a number of physical problems.

"My face was swollen, I had jaundice, my eyes were yellow," Hayden added. "I had to go to a liver specialist.

"I was holding on to weight that wasn't normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps."

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Hayden underwent her first stint in rehab in 2015, while still filming for hit show Nashville, before deciding to leave the industry.

And when she failed to stop drinking the first time round, she returned for treatment in 2021, enrolling in a 12-month programme.

It took eight months of "intensive therapy" to help Hayden move on past her addiction, after "choosing to be a good person".

It comes after Hayden gave her fans a look at her flawless figure in a sexy bikini shoot before her big acting comeback.

She was seen in her first acting role since 2016 as she reprised her character Kirby Reed in horror film Scream VI.

In July 2022, Hayden opened up for the first time about her battle with addiction as she recalled her rise to fame on Heroes.

While fans loved her character Claire Bennett, off-screen Hayden was battling some dark demons.

She revealed in the interview that her addiction began with what she called "happy pills," alleging that she was first offered them before red carpet appearances at just 15 years old.

She told PEOPLE: "They were to make me peppy during interviews, I had no ideas this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.

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"My saving grace is that I couldn't be messy while on set and working.

"But things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn't live without."

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