Hayden Panettiere Postpartum Depression: ‘Nashville’ Actress Cuts Hair, Says ‘It’s Like Getting Rid of Metaphorical and Literal Dead Ends’

Hayden Panettiere is showing off her new hairdo in her first update since she entered treatment for postpartum depression in October.

On Friday, December 4, the Nashville actress took to Twitter to share a new photo, highlighting her now shoulder-length hair.

Panettiere captioned the photo by saying, “Chopping hair off is like getting rid of metaphorical and literal dead ends. Off with the old and growing the new.”

Chopping hair off is like getting rid of metaphorical and literal dead ends. Off with the old and growing the new pic.twitter.com/xELYiOGmu2

— hayden panettiere (@haydenpanettier) December 4, 2015

Hayden Panettiere, 26, welcomed her first child, a daughter Kaya Evodokia, with her fiancé, professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, last December. Since then, the new mother has been very open about her struggles with postpartum depression.

During a September interview with Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan on Live! With Kelly and Michael, Panettiere spoke about her depression and compared herself to her Nashville character Juliette Barnes, according to a previous report by the Inquisitr.

“It’s something I can very much relate to,” Panettiere said. “It’s something a lot of women experience. When [you are told] about postpartum depression you think it’s ‘I feel negative feelings towards my child; I want to injure or hurt my child.’ I’ve never, ever had those feelings. Some women do. But you don’t realize how broad of a spectrum you can really experience that on. It’s something that needs to be talked about. Women need to know that they’re not alone, and that it does heal.”

During the same interview, Hayden Panettiere talked about the stigma associated with postpartum depression and explained that it is a very real condition that a lot of new mothers suffer from.

“There’s a lot of people out there that think that it’s not real, that it’s not true, that it’s something that’s made up in their minds, that ‘Oh, it’s hormones.’ They brush it off,” she said. “It’s something that’s completely uncontrollable. It’s really painful and it’s really scary and women need a lot of support.”

Panetteire sought treatment for her illness in October, which required her to take a hiatus from filmingNashville. Luckily, Hayden’s co-stars are very supportive and spoke highly of her during an interview with E! News.

“I think she seems to be doing really well, and obviously all of us are very excited for her to come back when it’s time,” Jonathan Jackson told reporters at the CMT Artists of the Year Awards. “But I’m also really grateful that she’s taking the time that she needs, and I think that that’s really a wonderful example for people.”

“She’s doing good! You know, she’s doing what she’s doing, and we’re like super supportive,” Lennon Stella added. “We haven’t heard any more on when she’s coming back, but she’s been doing great. We’ve been in contact with her and she’s great.”

While Hayden’s co-stars aren’t sure when she will be returning to the set, Hayden appears to be doing much better and was all smiles as she cheered on her fiance during his fight against Tyson Fury at the IBF IBO WBA WBO Heavyweight World Championship contest in Germany. The event, which took place over the weekend, marked her first public appearance since she entered treatment.

According to WebMD, postpartum depression is a condition that occurs shortly after women give birth. There are two forms. The first is early onset, which is commonly referred to as the “baby blues.” It affects nearly 80 percent of women after labor. Early onset generally doesn’t require treatment and will resolve after a couple of weeks.

There is also a more severe form of postpartum depression that can take longer to recover from and oftentimes requires medication and other forms of treatment. It affects 10 to 16 percent of women and usually appears several weeks after giving birth. Some common signs of the illness are sadness, anxiety, tearfulness, and trouble sleeping.

[Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images]