Hayden Panettiere is opening up about her extended break from acting in a new interview.
The 35-year-old actress took some time away from the spotlight after her ABC series Nashville ended in 2018, before returning for Scream VI, where she reprised her role as Kirby Reed from the fourth movie in the franchise.
Now, Hayden is dishing on her unexpecting break and how it was ultimately really good for her.
Keep reading to find out more…
“I had taken four years off. Didn’t know or plan to, but that’s just the way it panned out,” she told Us Weekly. “And I desperately needed it.”
The actress noted that the break was “never” in her mind and it happened organically and has allowed her to come back at a “different place in life.”
“The things that I’ve done before … it was just different enough that I felt like it was a blank canvas that I could paint onto anything I wanted on,” Hayden said. “And now try to take my career in a direction that I wasn’t able to go in before.”
“I feel much more solid and grounded in this world, the crazy world that we live in,” she added, noting this new “version” of herself is still “evolving and changing.”
“It’s healthy to continue to keep evolving as a person. Which I always try to do to keep reinventing ourselves and learning more things about ourselves and our wants and needs and dislikes and all the above,” Hayden said. “But I’ve never been this version of me, I’ve never been as OK with being who I am without feeling the need to apologize for anything. I feel like I’ve finally earned the right to an opinion.”
Hayden will next be seen on screen in the upcoming movie A Breed Apart, which hits theaters and on demand/digital on May 16th. Check out the trailer here!