Hayden Panettiere wishes she knew about postpartum depression before it struck her.

The 33-year-old actress — who has Kaya, eight, with retired boxer Wladimir Klitschko — has opened up about her personal experience of postpartum depression, admitting that she was totally unprepared to deal with it.

The blonde beauty — who split from Wladimir in 2018 — told E! News: "I wish I knew to look out for it. But I never heard any stories about it at all.

"I just thought there was something seriously wrong with me, so I thought, '[Alcohol] will fix this. Duh!' And it didn't. It does for a moment, but then it made everything worse."

Hayden didn't have any idea how to cope with postpartum depression at the time.

She added: "I wish somebody told me that that was a possibility, told me it's OK if you birth your child and you're not immediately like, 'Oh my god, I love you more than anything in the entire world!'

"It's OK and not abnormal if [your baby] comes out and it's a blob, and you're like, 'Oh my gosh, this is like a crazy little creation that I'm going to love when I get to know you.'"

Meanwhile, Hayden previously admitted that the arrival of her daughter transformed her life.

The actress discovered who her "true friends were" after she gave birth. 

She explained: "I went through a pregnancy and I found out who my true friends were — the ones that were going to stick around and support me.

"I'll just say the outcome was slim pickings! My life became all about staying healthy, getting good sleep, finding parks and nature."

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Source: Bang