Hayden Panettiere enters treatment for postpartum depression

NEW YORK, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Actress Hayden Panettiere has voluntarily checked herself into an undisclosed treatment facility to combat her postpartum depression.

Her rep released a statement to E! and other outlets confirming the news asking the media to "respect her privacy at this time."

The Nashville star, 26, welcomed her first child, a daughter named Kaya, with fiancee Wladimir Klitschko in December 2014 and has since spoken out about her experience with the mental illness. In September, Panettiere appeared on Live! with Kelly and Michael to detail her battle with postpartum depression, saying "there's a lot of misunderstanding," surrounding the disorder.

"There's a lot of people out there who think that it's not real, that it's not true, that it's something that's made up in their minds...They brush it off," she said. "It's something that's completely uncontrollable. It's really painful and it's really scary, and women need a lot of support."

Panettiere says she relates to her TV character, Juliette Barnes, who also faces depression after having a child. "[It's] something a lot of women experience," she said. "But you don't realize how broad of a spectrum you can really experience that on. It's something that I think needs to be talked about. Women need to know that they're not alone, and that it does heal."