HAYDEN PANETTIERE: The Truth Behind the Headlines (Finally Telling Her Story In Her Own Words)

**Hayden Panettiere** (0:03)
I worked so hard to create this incredible life and career, and I print it all to the ground. Don't believe what you see in a picture. There's so much more going on, so much more.
For the first time, I was able to put in towards what has been going on for the past decade. I was going to ask if I could read it.

**Jay Shetty** (0:29)
I'd really appreciate that.
Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the place you come to become happier, healthier and more healed. Today's guest is one of those stories that I believe allow so many of us to understand more deeply, to expand our compassion, to recognize the value of what we all go through behind the scenes when you actually live a very public life, a life that we think we know, but we know very, very little about. Today, I am joined by Hayden Panettiere, an actress so many of us grew up watching, whose career spanned more than three decades. From one of my favorites, Remember the Titans, to becoming a global star on Heroes and earning two Golden Globe nominations for her role on Nashville. Now, for the first time, Hayden is sitting down to share her story in her own words. In her powerful new memoir that I got to read beforehand, This Is Me, A Reckoning. Please welcome to On Purpose, Hayden Panettiere. Hayden, welcome to the show. Thank you for being here.

**Hayden Panettiere** (1:37)
It's an honor to be here.

**Jay Shetty** (1:39)
I want to start by just saying that when I read the book, I can't imagine how challenging, difficult and vulnerable you had to be to even begin to capture the amount of life that you've lived in these 36 years. I just want to acknowledge the courage and strength that I saw in it when I was reading it.
I was so looking forward to our conversation today because I really wanted to learn about the human behind these words, but also behind the headlines and the news that we've seen. I wanted to start off by asking you, what's a childhood memory that you have, that you feel defines who you are today?

**Hayden Panettiere** (2:19)
God, I've got a laundry list I can think of off the top of my head, but it really defines who I am. I think I've been really impacted by the people that I've gotten to work with, and especially when I was at very sensitive ages.
Like when I think back to Remember the Titans, as you said, at 10 years old, that experience, that whole experience, everyone on set and playing that character of Cheryl that felt so similar to who I was naturally as a person. I felt like that really shaped me, really shaped my perspective of the industry, made me feel like now I know what kind of actor I want to be.
I want to be generous and I want to be there for people, but this can also be fun.

**Jay Shetty** (3:12)
Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to read from your book, if that's all right.

**Hayden Panettiere** (3:15)
Yeah, of course.

**Jay Shetty** (3:16)
You say in the book that from a very young age, I lost the chance to have a normal childhood, friends, relationships, and my privacy, because instead of fighting it, I leaned into the talent I was somehow blessed with. And I wanted to ask you, what do you think a normal childhood looked like?
And how was yours different from that?

**Hayden Panettiere** (3:37)
Well, to me, a normal childhood looked like extracurricular activities. It looked like going to school, being in school all day long, having a social life in connection with your peers, going home, doing homework, having play dates, having friends over, having those kinds of experiences. And even though I did get some of that, because I had to live that life and had to be removed from it all the time, whether it was to go to auditions or to go to work, I constantly was missing out on the social aspect of what was going on with my, I mean, I was trying to be friends with them. But when you miss out, then you sit down, you really have nothing to talk about. Because I only had my experience and what I did yesterday, which was I was on set or I was in the city doing an audition.
And that wasn't something that I could expect anyone around me to understand. So I feel like I got a taste of what I saw what a normal childhood would be. And I was on swim team and I did do gymnastics and, you know, occasionally I got invited to a birthday party.