Hayden Panettiere's Postapartum Honesty Will be Her Legacy

Hayden Panettiere was only 36 years old. She was a mother to a young child. She seemed poised for a comeback.

And now, she's gone. The actress died on August 16.

When I heard the news, I immediately thought of the star's family, especially her daughter.

Shortly after that, I thought of her memoir, which was just released a few months before her death. In This is Me: A Reckoning, the actress details her life as a public figure, a mother, and a woman who dealt with serious, often heavily stigmatized health issues. Most notably, she opened up in a whole new way about her experience with postpartum depression.

It's an experience she tried to give voice to for so long, only to be routinely shut down and silenced. She lost opportunities for refusing to stay silent. She revealed how scary the experience was, the dark places it led her to, and the fact that she had no idea what she was experiencing.

And I imagine the reason she was so open about her story was to help other women who felt similarly lost, confused, and scared.

As a journalist who has spent the past 12 years writing about maternal issues, I know how much of an impact celebrities can truly make when they talk about these experiences. I also know that this young woman was one of the most influential voices around postpartum depression in particular.

To her family, Panettiere's legacy will be about who she was to them, a person the majority of never got to know personally. But to the public? I believe her legacy will lie in her honesty. Her bravery. Her refusal to stay silent.

It mattered then. It still matters now. And it will continue to matter.