Hayden Panettiere recently discussed the profound impact stress can have on the body following an interview where she appeared to slur her words.
The 35-year-old Heroes actress opened up about various subjects, including the death of her younger brother Jansen Panettiere, in a conversation with PEOPLE last week.
In a widely viewed clip, Panettiere describes her daughter Kaya as being ‘just like her’.
However, viewers expressed concern when they noticed Panettiere seemingly struggling with her speech, exhibiting signs of slurred words in the footage.
Jansen, her brother, passed away at 28 due to an undiagnosed heart condition on February 19 last year.
The Medical Examiner determined that Jansen’s sudden death was caused by cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart, combined with aortic valve complications.
Panettiere has since shared her experiences dealing with the mental and physical effects of grief.
On Today with Hoda and Jenna, Panettiere told hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager that she initially believed discussing her mental health struggles would be ‘easier’.
She explained: “I thought that people would have empathy – [that it] was going to be the only thing that was there, but I had no idea how my body, my mind, was going to react to grief.
“It’s wild what stress and grief and all these hormones and running through your body can do… I mean, make you faint. My mother, when she got stressed – she’s gonna kill me for saying this – she used to get knots on her head.”
The Nashville star frankly added: “It comes in all different forms, so nobody should be embarrassed by it or judged for it.”
Panettiere also acknowledged that she hasn’t entirely come to terms with her brother’s unexpected death, stating: “I think it’s something that transforms over time. Maybe the five stages of grief is for people who have had a heartbreak or find out some bad news. Yes, there are five stages, but there’s so much more in between.”
“And when you lose somebody that you saw in all of the important moments in your life, standing right next to you, it just rocks your world,” she said. “So it just changes … it changes.”
Last week, Panettiere’s representative addressed public concerns about her PEOPLE interview. They informed Page Six that discussing her brother for the first time was very emotional for Panettiere, adding: “It had been a long and exhausting day for her. She was not under the influence.”
A source close to the actress also informed Page Six that her team ‘was on set for the duration of the shoot’, and Panettiere ‘fully cooperated’ during the video interview.