Hayden Panettiere Gives a Rare Update About Her 9-Year-Old Daughter Who Lives in Europe: 'Kaya Speaks 5 Languages!'

Hayden Panettiere isn’t shy about her love for her daughter Kaya. The 9-year-old, who currently lives in Europe full-time with her dad Wladimir Klitschko, is growing and learning so much. The Nashville actress gave a rare interview about her pre-teen, and we are seriously impressed.

Multilingual

“Kaya speaks five languages,” Panettiere told PEOPLE. “English, Russian, Ukrainian, German, and she’s now getting on with her French … she’s a genius!”

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Five languages?! That’s amazing! Panettiere credits her European upbringing for helping her daughter be multilingual. “I think language is one thing we do poorly in the US,” she continued. “By the time we start teaching them languages, their brain is already too formed. But when they’re babies and young, they’re like a sponge. You can teach them anything.” She added, “She doesn’t appreciate it now, but I keep telling her she will!”

Living with Dad

Kaya has been living with her Ukrainian boxer dad since she was 3. The actress signed over custody of her daughter due to her struggle with opioids and alcohol, which she called the “most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever had to do in my life” on an episode of Red Table Talk in Sept. 2022.

She originally thought that it was temporary, and once she worked on herself “things would change.” Unfortunately, that was not the case, and Kaya is still living with her dad despite Panettiere being sober now. “But I wanted to be a good mom to her — and sometimes that means letting them go.”

The Intimate Conversations with Hayden Panettiere speaker maintains a close relationship with her child virtually, and she shared many of the other things they have in common, like a love of horses and swimming.

“She’s just like me,” Panettiere says of Kaya. “When I was working on Nashville, I was pregnant with her and just spent a lot of time in my pool. And she came out just loving water.”

Postpartum Depression

In March 2023, the Scream 6 star opened up about the postpartum depression she experienced after Kaya was born. “I wish I knew to look out for it. But I never heard any stories about it at all,” she said on E! News’ The Rundown. “I just thought there was something seriously wrong with me, so I thought, ‘[Alcohol] will fix this. Duh!’ And it didn’t. It does for a moment, but then it made everything worse.”

“And then it hurts for you. Because you’re like, ‘They’re saying I should be able to get over this all by myself,’” she added.

Despite the struggles of the postpartum phase and her early childhood, Panettiere seems to be doing a fabulous job with her daughter. And it’s heartwarming to see.

Before you go, check out these celebrity parents who are raising bilingual kids.

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