Actress Hayden Panettiere has made striking allegations against a major beauty brand, claiming the company severed its relationship with her following her public disclosure of postpartum depression. The revelation appears in her upcoming memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which chronicles her mental health battles after welcoming daughter Kaya in 2011.
An excerpt published by The Cut on Tuesday, May 12, details the professional fallout Panettiere experienced while seeking treatment for depression and substance abuse during her tenure on the television series Nashville. The 36-year-old actress describes a harrowing incident during the show's fourth season that led to her hospitalization and subsequent treatment.
"One day early in season 4, I arrived on set bleary-eyed, still shaking off the effects of my [insomnia] meds the night before. I've never been a morning person, but on the medication, I was a zombie," Panettiere writes in the memoir. "I couldn't go on set like that, so I decided that before getting into the makeup chair I'd put my head down for a nap. Two hours later, I woke up in the hospital."
The actress recounts her confusion upon regaining consciousness, with a nurse informing her that a colleague had discovered her unresponsive on a sofa and summoned emergency services. The incident necessitated her temporary departure from Nashville to enter rehabilitation treatment, with producers writing her character, Juliette Barnes, out of the script.
The professional consequences extended beyond the television production. Panettiere alleges that Neutrogena, a brand with which she maintained a long-standing endorsement contract, terminated their relationship following her public acknowledgment of mental health struggles.
"The producers had no choice but to write me out of the script temporarily — something that killed me because I'd always prided myself on my professionalism — and I issued a statement about where I was going and why," she writes. "My fans and the press were hugely sympathetic — and I'll always be grateful for that — but a part of my career I'd come to depend on suffered. Neutrogena canceled my long-standing contract, and it was yet another blow in a year that had given almost nothing else."
The actress elaborated on the circumstances surrounding the contract termination in a recent interview with Us Weekly, revealing that the decision followed her candid discussion of postpartum depression on Live With Kelly and Michael in 2015.
"After that interview, I had no idea when I walked off that stage that I was going to get the call saying, 'Neutrogena wants to fire you. They're not OK with this,'" Panettiere told the publication. "And you're going, 'Wait a second, of all the things, how can they judge me about something that is so human and so real?"
The allegations raise significant questions about corporate responsibility and the stigmatization of mental health conditions in professional contexts. Panettiere's experience highlights the potential career ramifications individuals may face when disclosing mental health struggles, despite growing societal awareness of such issues.
Neutrogena's parent company, Kenvue, has been contacted for comment regarding the allegations but has not yet issued a public response.
The memoir, which Panettiere describes as "brutally, painfully honest," addresses multiple traumatic experiences throughout her life, including abuse by individuals entrusted with her protection. The actress, known for her role in Heroes before her Nashville tenure, has stated her intention to provide an unvarnished account of her struggles with alcohol abuse and depression.
This Is Me: A Reckoning will be published on Tuesday, May 19.
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