After stepping away from the spotlight following the end of Nashville in 2018, Hayden Panettiere is finally opening up about what led to her unexpected four-year break from acting—and why it turned out to be one of the best things she could have done for herself.
In a recent interview with Us Weekly, the 35-year-old actress reflected on the pause in her career, revealing that it wasn’t something she planned but something that unfolded naturally.
“I had taken four years off. Didn’t know or plan to, but that’s just the way it panned out,” she explained. “And I desperately needed it.”
After years of growing up in the entertainment industry—from her early days on Guiding Light and Heroes, to her acclaimed run as Juliette Barnes on Nashville—Panettiere admits she was simply worn out. The break wasn’t a strategic move, but a much-needed reset that allowed her to come back stronger and more self-aware.
The time away, she says, was crucial to her personal growth. “It was never in my mind,” she said of taking a hiatus, “but it happened organically and has allowed me to come back at a different place in life.”
That place, it turns out, is more grounded and more confident. Returning to the big screen in Scream VI as fan-favorite Kirby Reed, Panettiere said the role offered her a fresh start and a chance to carve out a new path for her career.
“The things that I’ve done before … it was just different enough that I felt like it was a blank canvas that I could paint onto anything I wanted on,” she shared. “And now try to take my career in a direction that I wasn’t able to go in before.”
That new direction doesn’t just involve choosing roles that challenge her—it’s also about embracing her own evolution. “I feel much more solid and grounded in this world, the crazy world that we live in,” she said.
It’s clear that Hayden is in a much different headspace these days, and she’s embracing the version of herself that’s come out on the other side of personal challenges and a long break from Hollywood.
“This version” of herself, she adds, is “still evolving and changing.”
“It’s healthy to continue to keep evolving as a person,” she said. “Which I always try to do—to keep reinventing ourselves and learning more things about ourselves and our wants and needs and dislikes and all the above.”
But one of the most powerful takeaways from her time away? She’s finally comfortable in her own skin—and she no longer feels the need to explain or apologize for it.
“I’ve never been this version of me, I’ve never been as OK with being who I am without feeling the need to apologize for anything. I feel like I’ve finally earned the right to an opinion.”
Fans won’t have to wait long to see more of this next chapter. Hayden is set to appear in the upcoming film A Breed Apart, hitting theaters and digital platforms on May 16. The film marks another exciting step in what seems to be a more intentional, creatively fulfilling phase of her career.
