Hayden Panettiere Was Terrified During Postpartum Depression Battle

Hayden Panettiere has bravely opened up about her difficult struggle with postpartum depression.

The 26-year-old announced last October that she was voluntarily admitting herself to a rehab centre, in order to get help after giving birth to her daughter, Kaya, in December 2014.

RELATED: Hayden Panettiere 'Feeling Great' After Postpartum Depression Treatment

"I was always so terrified that people weren't going to accept me," she told Yahoo Style.

"The more open I was, the more acceptance I got from people. I got so much support and so much love. I was floored."

“I finally just went, I’m tired of living afraid. I’m tired of living in fear of what people are going to think, so, you know, I’m just going to put it all out there on the table and I’m not going to worry about the judgment.”

The Nashville star said she was pleasantly surprised at how much support she got from her family and friends.

Speaking at the Critics' Choice Awards in January, she discussed how her time in the centre made her "life better".

"I do feel and hope it's made other people's lives better and more of an understanding because postpartum depression was not something that I ever understood," Panettiere said.

You could never understand it unless you have a personal involvement with it.

"I didn't realize how much of a stigma it had about it," she said.