Hayden Panettiere has publicly come out as bisexual after years of feeling 'forced to be perfect' to avoid public scrutiny. The 36-year-old actress, best known for her role in Nashville, shared her truth with Us Weekly on Wednesday, stating, 'It's sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?'
Panettiere added, 'I've chosen to share it with the world, I'm comfortable saying I'm bisexual. I'm comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!' Despite facing constant paparazzi attention, she managed to secretly date women, whom she preferred over men from a very young age. 'I was much more into women,' the two-time Golden Globe nominee revealed.
Struggles with Courage and Fear
Panettiere admitted she lacked the courage to fully explore her emotions, fearing that falling in love would mean having to hide it. 'I didn't really have the courage to throw myself fully, emotionally into it, because then if I did fall in love, that wasn't something that I wanted to ever have to hide. I didn't feel confident enough, and I was too afraid to really let that part of me explore that part of me.'
She also worried about being perceived as 'jumping on the bandwagon' during a time when coming out as bisexual, especially among women, seemed like a trend. 'It felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, and saying that they were bisexual, or liked girls, was a fad,' she explained.
Memoir and Honesty
The actress decided to be 'completely brutally honest' about her sexuality during the two years she spent writing her 320-page memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which Grand Central Publishing will release on May 19. The book was originally titled Break Free: Addiction, Trauma, and How the Cheerleader Saved Herself and also covers her battles with addiction to opioids and alcohol, for which she completed two rehab stints.
Panettiere has only ever publicly dated men, including her most recent ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson, a convicted felon from whom she split in 2020 after his eight domestic violence arrests. She lost custody of her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, a retired heavyweight boxer. The couple amicably ended their on-again, off-again relationship in 2018 after nine years.
Other past relationships include Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia, retired NFL wide receiver Scotty McKnight, Welsh TV presenter Steve Jones, singer Jesse McCartney, The Hills alum Stephen Colletti, and the late Pink Taco founder Harry Morton.
Upcoming Book Tour and Film
The homeschooled millennial will kick off her four-date This Is Me book tour at Barnes & Noble in Union Square, New York City, on May 19. Additionally, UK and Australian audiences can see Panettiere's latest performance as grieving mother Sarah Pangborn in Brandon Auman's psychological thriller Sleepwalker, which hits theaters this July. She also served as executive producer on the project.
