Hayden Panettiere Reveals She’s Bisexual, Says “Sad” Reason Kept Her Silent
on May 07, 2026
Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About Her Sexuality In New Memoir
Hayden Panettiere’s upcoming memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, offers a raw and honest look into her life.
The singer and actress is preparing to share insight into parts of her life she has never gone into detail about before.
In the book, set for release on May 19, she touches on topics such as the challenges of being a child actor, her struggles with addiction and time spent in rehab, and high-profile relationships she’s been in.
Another very candid topic she plans to discuss is her sexuality. The former Nashville star has revealed that she is bisexual.
In an interview with US Weekly, Hayden spoke about her decision to come out and why she kept it private for so many years.
“That’s something about me I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time,” she said. “It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. I was not encouraged to just be myself.”
Even as the topic became more widely accepted and more people were publicly coming out, Hayden still felt it wasn’t the right time to be honest about who she is. She didn’t want it to seem like she was doing it just to fit in.
“Then came the period where it felt like people coming out, especially women, saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad. I was afraid that if I was honest, it was going to be like me jumping on the bandwagon.”
“I wanted to make sure that I really sat down and chose my words carefully and was able to tell my story in an honest way, that people understood,” she continued. “On one hand, 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?”
Hayden told the outlet that she has dated women in the past, but never reached the point of being in love.
She says this was largely due to the lack of privacy she experienced, with paparazzi following her for years. She admitted that it felt “scary” to think her sexuality might become headline news before she was ready to share it herself.
“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,” she said.
Now, Hayden finally feels more ready than ever to be honest about who she really is.
“Yes, I am bisexual. i said it!,” she exclaimed. “This is the first time I got to say it out loud.”
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Hayden has had a few relationships that have played out in the public eye, including her former romance with her Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia.
She was also engaged to boxer Wladimir Klitschko, though they ended their engagement in 2018. The two share a daughter named Kaya, who is now 11 years old.
The actress faced postpartum depression after giving birth, which later led to struggles with alcohol and opioids. She’s shared that these challenges made co-parenting difficult, and it eventually resulted in her losing custody of her daughter.
After years of working on herself and her recovery, Hayden says she now has a very close relationship with both Wlad and Kaya.
“I have an incredible relationship with both of them,” she said. “I’m so grateful for Wlad. We’re very close, and have had a deep friendship, along with a relationship, since I met him when I was 19. So to see that we still have this bond and the ability to coparent and show our daughter [that] even though we’re not together, doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of love here, and it doesn’t mean that you’re unsafe.”
