Hayden Panettiere Reveals She Was Diagnosed With Jaundice & Suffered Hair Loss After Crippling Addiction To Alcohol 

Hayden Panettiere is revealing the toll her addiction to alcohol took on her health.

The Heroes actress admitted that due to her excessive drinking, she was diagnosed with jaundice, which caused her eyes to turn yellow, a “swollen” face and significant hair loss.

“My body was like, ‘Enough,'” Panettiere admitted in a recent interview. “I had to go to a liver specialist. I was holding on to weight that wasn’t normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps.”

The former child star also struggled with intense “sleep deprivation” that greatly affected her “motor skills,” “ability to sleep” and “overall health."

Panettiere has been open about her addiction battle, which friends fear may come back to haunt her as she deals with the loss of her 28-year-old brother, Jansen, in February from an enlarged heart. "Hayden is inconsolable," a source close to the Nashville actress explained.

"Jansen wasn't just her brother. He was her confidant and best friend. They had both been burned by Hollywood and shared the experiences with each other," the source continued, adding that her inner circle has been afraid this will "undo all the hard work she put into her sobriety."

"This hasn't been easy and there were a lot of ups and downs," Panettiere admitted in a 2022 interview about her struggle with alcohol. "But I don't regret even the ugliest things that have happened to me. I feel incredibly accomplished. And I feel like I have a second chance."

"They were to make me peppy during interviews," she said. "I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction."

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"My saving grace is that I couldn't be messy while on set and working," the Tiger Cruise actress noted at the time. "But things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn't live without."

Women's Health conducted the interview with Panettiere.