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Hayden Panettiere Says She Was Given "Happy Pills" At Age 16 During Promotion Tour For Heroes

The Heroes actress said, "I should have thought, 'That's so sketchy,' but I didn't because I trusted the person."

 

Hayden Panettiere says she was given "happy pills" at the age of 16.

Speaking on Red Table Talk, Panettiere told hosts Jada Pinkett Smith, Adrienne Banfield Norris, and Kelly Osbourne that the incident happened while she was on the road promoting the supernatural series Heroes, where she played Claire Bennet aka The Cheerleader.

Panettiere, now 33, said: "Somebody who was on my team that I was working with came to me, and it was before this red carpet and I had been doing Heroes and we did press all the time and I was a little low-energy. It was, 'Here, take one of these, it's a happy pill, it'll give you energy,' so I didn't think of it at the time as a bad thing or a drug."


The Nashville actress went on to reflect that she should have realised the situation was "sketchy" but recalled that the drugs did give her "a little bit" of the energy she needed to continue with press interviews.

"It was something similar to Adderall," she explained. "I should have thought, 'That's so sketchy,' but I didn't because I trusted the person.

"It did give me that little bit of energy and I didn't feel like, high and out of control, but I did feel happy and like I was looking forward to doing interviews, yes.


"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."

Watch Panettiere's Red Table Talk interview here:

— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

Related topics

Hollywood Hayden Panettiere Jada Pinkett Smith Kelly Osbourne Adrienne Banfield

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