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Hayden Panettiere is looking back at her time on Nashville with mixed feelings. Speaking to The Messenger, the actress talks about how being on the series during a difficult time in her life made matters more complex. Panettiere also questioned how that time impacted her professional career.
The Actress Questions the Path Her Career Took
Off the success of her time on Heroes, Hayden Panettiere was cast as lead Juliette Barnes in Nashville. She portrayed the character throughout the series’ run, from 2012 to 2018, a move she now questions.
If I hadn’t had done that — if I hadn’t accepted Nashville and had all that time to be involved with other projects — then where would I be now?”
Hayden Panettiere, The Messenger
Noting that those six years were when she was “at my physical prime, my mental, my everything,” Panetierre wondered about what it would have been like if she worked on any other project during that time, noting she wasn’t “encouraged to do that.” Where would I be today?” “
Playing Juliette Barnes Was Like “Acting Out My Own Life” for Panettiere
The music-based country drama was a “very traumatizing” experience, according to Panettiere, “because I felt like I was acting out my own life.” She pointed out how often the show’s storylines parallel her.
Straight from the beginning, it was like, I’m dating a football player, [and then] Juliette dates a football player. And then they turned her into an alcoholic. Then they turned to her leaving her daughter and going to this crazy [place] in Europe, and it was very obvious … They weren’t doing their homework.”
Hayden Panettiere, The Messenger
Panettiere explains that by not “creating new storylines,” she ended up spending up to 20 hours a week reflecting on her own life through a camera lens.
They were just looking at my life and going, ‘Oh, let’s just take what she’s going through and put our little spin on it.’ And then, ta-da! It’s done and done.”
Hayden Panettiere, The Messenger
On top of what was happening at work, Panettiere acknowledges that she “didn’t have the time to take care of myself” with her long day and packed downtime. The actress recalls losing herself in TV when she wasn’t on set in order to “keep my mind off of that because I knew that next day I was going to be back at it again.”
The actress continues to wade back into her art after taking a mental health hiatus. She has yet to announce any new projects, but fans are rooting for her strong return.
