Hayden Panettiere’s Biggest Job Is Keeping Her Daughter Alive

It’s been a bumpy road for Hayden Panettiere since giving birth two years ago to her first child, a daughter named Kaya she shares with her Ukrainian boxer fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko. Like many women, the Nashville star suffered from postpartum depression, which interfered with her daily life. It became serious enough that she sought help at a treatment facility in December 2015 — and again in May 2016. Then rumors hit that she and Klitschko were engaged no more … though that turned out not to be true. Now the 27-year-old star is back at home and back at work, though she is the first to admit that things have changed since she made the move to Tennessee five years ago.

“When I first arrived, I remember struggling with the concept of making a place so foreign to me feel like home,” she recalled in a piece in Parade magazine. “I was 22, not a mom [yet], and had no one to answer to but myself. My life was all about having fun, exploring myself, and meeting new people. It was filled with late nights, great music, and figuring out where I fit in here in Nashville.” Sounds nice, right?

“Then I went through a pregnancy and I found out who my true friends were — the ones that were going to stick around and support me,” she said before adding, “I’ll just say the outcome was slim pickins!” At that point, the actress decided it was time to make some changes. “My life became all about staying healthy, getting good sleep, finding parks and nature. Now I’m the mother of a 2-year-old, I’ve found my pack of solid, loyal, lifelong friends here and am settled into a beautiful routine. Don’t get me wrong — it’s still a blast. My life and who I am have simply evolved in a beautiful way.”

But just because she has fallen into a rhythm of sorts hardly means life is boring. While she earmarks her Sundays for “gearing up and preparing for a long workweek,” the predictability ends there. “I can’t say that anything is typical or ‘the norm’ about any day of the week now that I’m the mom of a 2-year-old,” Panettiere revealed. “She gets her hands in just about everything, and my biggest job at the moment is keeping her alive!” The actress is doing more than just that, however, sharing some quality time with Kaya (even if Kaya wasn’t feeling it).

Keeping that adorable toddler kicking is hardly Panettiere’s only job, though. She also happens to be the star of a hit TV show (no pressure) in a role that requires her to sing as well as act. And while she gets the opportunity to perform with iconic musicians like Steven Tyler (likewise, no pressure), she isn’t about to dive back into her own music career again soon. “Juggling my workload and being a mom right now is plenty,” she said. “I’ve figured out my own limits over the years, and music is a bridge that I might want to cross when I can truly dedicate myself to it.” In other words, ask her again in about 16 more years.