Hayden Panettiere revealed that Neutrogena canceled her contract after she admitted to suffering from postpartum depression following the 2014 birth of her daughter, Kaya.
The “Nashville” actress shared that the major beauty brand “canceled [her] long-standing contract” for allegedly breaking a morality clause.
“I labored with Kaya for 14 hours and was in surgery for three hours after she was born,” she writes in an excerpt from her forthcoming memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” obtained by the Cut.
“My blood wouldn’t clot during my C-section, so doctors had to close the blood vessels in my uterus to prevent me from bleeding out. I had seven transfusions and ran a fever the entire time,” Panettiere, 36, writes.
“My uterus had become infected, and the antibiotics I’d been given during labor hadn’t been strong enough to lower my temperature. When I woke up in the recovery room, I was exhausted, disoriented, and racked with pain.”
The “Heroes” alum says she “needed a drink to function” following the birth of her daughter, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.
After multiple times in “treatment,” Panettiere says she wasn’t herself, costing her her job in “Nashville.”
“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 pens in the memoir.
“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,” she adds.
“Neutrogena canceled my long-standing contract, and it was yet another blow in a year that had given almost nothing else.”
The mom of one says though she had everything she wanted — including a baby, a fiancé and a “great job” — she was still unhappy while battling PPD.
“I had postpartum depression, and it sucked. I wanted more than anything to get back to that place of happiness, but I didn’t even know where that place was anymore,” she writes.
Page Six has reached out to Neutrogena for comment but did not immediately hear back.
The cosmetic company signed Panettiere as a spokesperson and face for the brand in 2006.
The “Bring It On: All or Nothing” actress regularly appeared in major worldwide ad campaigns for Neutrogena, promoting their acne wash and more products.
Her 10-year contract concluded around 2016, months after she detailed her experience with postpartum on “Live! with Kelly and Michael.”
During that appearance, Panettiere shared that PPD was “something completely uncontrollable” and “really painful.”
She also shared how “women need a lot of support” battling the “really scary” depression.
On the “Jay Shetty” podcast Monday, Panettiere said Neutrogena firing her over her depression remarks was “the last thing that I thought they would ever fire me over.”
“When I got that call that Neutrogena wanted to fire me over that, my representative at the time said, ‘That’s illegal. You can’t do that,’” she recalled.
“And even though, you know, she saved the day that year, I know that that was going to be it, I was not going to be invited back the next year,” Panettiere shared.
The actress said she was heartbroken that the people she had worked with for a decade never reached out to see how she was doing after her contract was not renewed.
“This Is Me: A Reckoning” will be released on May 19.
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