Hayden Panettiere is getting real about pregnancy and motherhood.
The Golden Globe nominee, 33, said she wishes "somebody told me" about postpartum depression before and "told me it's okay," as she discussed the condition and her experience giving birth to daughter Kaya Edokia, 8, this week on E! News' The Rundown.
"I wish I knew to look out for it," she said. "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."
She also related to host Erin Lim Rhodes the isolating experience of having people downplaying the condition or not taking it seriously.
"And then it hurts for you," explained Panettiere. "Because you're like, 'They're saying I should be able to get over this all by myself.'"
Panettiere welcomed Kaya in December 2014 with her then-fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. The next year, she entered a treatment center when her rep told PEOPLE she was "battling postpartum depression."
The Nashville alum previously told PEOPLE that "the biggest message that I've been trying to promote for women is that it's okay to ask for help," adding in the 2016 interview, "You feel mommy guilt — it's for real."
She continued: "It's like being in a tunnel. You can't even remember when you felt good. You try and think back to when you felt good, when you felt positive, when you felt happy, and you can't. All you see is this enveloping darkness."
Panettiere told PEOPLE last year that Kaya is "a happy kid open to a huge world. And she has more love than anybody I've ever met."
Although she relinquished custody of her daughter amid her addiction struggles with alcohol and opioids, they still have a good relationship.
"She has a beautiful life," said Panettiere. "I was just with her. She's just an amazing child. She's smart and she's funny and for whatever reason, she still loves me."
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
