Hayden Panettiere is grateful for the positive response she’s had for her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, so far.

“I am moved beyond words by the amount of support and encouragement I’ve received from all of you — it truly means more than you know,” the actress, 36, wrote in a statement shared via her Instagram Story on Thursday, May 14. “To those you have written to me sharing your own journeys with similar struggles, I see you.”

Panettiere added she has been reading all the messages she’s received.

“While I can’t respond to everyone, please know that I am reading your messages, and I stand with you,” she continued. “The goal of this book has always been to share my story in my own words, but also to remind others that they are not alone. We are always stronger together.”

In This Is Me: A Reckoning, which officially hits shelves on Tuesday, May 19, Panettiere opens up her life’s most private moments including her career as a child actor, breakups, coming to terms with her sexuality, postpartum struggles and more.

Ahead of the book’s release, Panettiere exclusively told Us Weekly that she was “terrified” to put her story to pen.

“The first thought that went through my head is, Am I ready to write a book about my life?” she revealed in Us’ May cover story. “Then I started thinking through my life and going, ‘Gosh, truth is stranger than fiction. I have so many stories already to share.’ I hope that by sharing them in this book, that it helps people to overcome the obstacles they’re going through.”

Panettiere’s nerves to open up didn’t go away as she felt that the writing process was “very scary” for her as she recounted multiple difficult moments.

“I talk about traumatic moments and things that people don’t even know about,” she told Us. “The abuse I went through at the hands of people that were supposed to be there to protect me. Admitting to all of the things that I did. I knew if I was going to do this, I wanted to be brutally, painfully honest.”

One instance of her past that Panettiere chose to write about was her abusive relationship with ex Brian Hickerson. The former couple started dating in 2018. Hickerson was arrested the following year following an alleged domestic violence incident with Panettiere. He was charged with felony domestic violence and ordered to stay away from the actress. Those charges were later dropped. However, Hickerson was arrested again in 2020 following another domestic violence altercation with Panettiere. He served 33 days in prison, was placed on four years probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine. Panettiere and Hickerson split following his second arrest.

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“That whole experience, I kept as much of it to myself as possible because I didn’t want to drag anybody that I loved emotionally into such an upsetting situation,” Panettiere told Us of her history with Hickerson. “I knew that they would want to protect me and would do anything to make sure that I was safe, and I wanted to keep them safe, and … emotionally safe. It was humiliating. It was embarrassing, so I didn’t want anyone to know. I wanted people to know as little as possible.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.

This Is Me: A Reckoning will be released on Tuesday, May 19.