Hayden Panettiere has spoken about how only recently she’s felt able to be open with others about her sexuality, as she prepares for the release of her memoir.
Panettiere began working in the entertainment industry as a child, appearing in daytime dramas including ABC’s One Life to Live and CBS’ Guiding Light.
She later moved into film and family projects, with credits that included A Bug’s Life, before taking on roles that helped cement her as a Disney-era star, such as Tiger Cruise, Remember the Titans and Ice Princess.
For many viewers, however, she remains best known for playing Claire Bennet in NBC’s Heroes.
In an interview with US Weekly ahead of her upcoming book, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere discussed addressing her sexuality in print and said her attraction to women began when she was a child.
She said: “That’s something about me I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time.
“It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. I was not encouraged to just be myself.”
She also reflected on the cultural moment when she first understood her feelings, explaining that at the time it seemed like some people viewed coming out as a trend.
Panettiere said that perception made her worry that if she spoke publicly about being bisexual, it would be dismissed as her “jumping on the bandwagon”.
She continued: “And once again, it was always the fear of not being perfect, and what my team was going to think about it, what the public’s opinion was going to be about it.
“It was just never the right time, and it was a very difficult topic to articulate properly… It’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?”
Now, she says she feels far more at ease speaking openly about it.
She said: “I’m comfortable saying I’m bisexual. I’m comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!”
Panettiere also touched on how intense media attention earlier in her life affected her sense of safety, describing pressure from photographers outside her home and being “following her everywhere”.
Even so, she shared that she has dated women before, adding that her bisexuality has been part of her life since she was very young.
Her book, This Is Me: A Reckoning, will be published on May 19.