Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Hayden Panettiere Started Drinking at Age 8

But it’s really not what it sounds like.

“I was raised Italian and we always had diluted glasses of red wine at dinner time from about the age of 8,” she says. “That’s just what kids do in Italy. It wasn’t ever something bad.”

In America, that might get you charged with endangerment or neglect, and could get your kids taken away from you. But then, we have lots of people who die every year from binge drinking. I’ve heard that in other countries it’s pretty normal for kids to drink a little bit of alcohol at a younger age, and although Panettiere is American, her family is Italian, so this was normal for them.

I’m not passing any judgment on this one. Some people are pointing to this as further evidence that Panettiere is going to be the next young female actress to get hit by the pickled liver truck and fall onto the crazy wagon. Puh-lease. Everyone knows that it’s going to be Taylor Momsen.

22 CommentsLeave a comment

  • This used to happen in the very past…we do not do that in Italy anymore. And it used to be a glass full of water with a very little bit of wine.

    • thats not true. its seen as normal in italy for children to drink a bit of wine at family dinners. and i thinks its great, drinking alcohol is a normal thing when done in moderation. american kids are so bombarded with “no alcohol until 21” that as soon as they can get their hands on some alcohol they abuse it.

  • That is the norm for drinking in Italy, and their kids do not tend to do the idiotic drunken things that American teenagers are sometimes known to do. I went on a trip to Italy in highschool, and we heard stories of a school trip of Florida boys who almost got expelled from their hotel. If alcohol is not some big deal, then teen drinkers are less likely to mindlessly overindulge, because it is nothing new or all that special.

    My parents let me have wine with dinner occasionally since I was probably eleven or twelve, simply because there is a genetic predisposition for alcoholism in my family (though my parents and grandparents are not alcoholics). I am about to be twenty-three, and I am not much of a drinker, even though I tend to be somewhat surrounded by alcoholics. Basically, Hayden Panettiere’s parents did her a favor. And she has turned out so well~

  • In north of France, they used to put a little bit alcohol on baby’s milk to make theme sleep. thanks God i’m not for north of France ^^”

  • It’s like the sip of champagne on holidays, or a glass of wine/beer with an older family member. Personally, I think it’s a good thing: it demystifies alcohol and makes it seem unimportant and, frankly, when you’re a little kid, pretty fucking disgusting.

    • Yeah, I remember having a sip of wine at one of my parents dinner parties and I was pretty disgusted.

      • I know, right? I love it when people say that alcohol is an acquired taste. Why the hell would you want to acquire it?

  • Maybe because she did it at home and it wasn’t considered a big deal, she’s not going to see it as some big rebellious thing and get wasted on a regular basis.

    My parents let me drink at home so long as I was supervised, and as a result I never felt the need to go to some stupid party where there was going to be crappy Boones Farm or MGD – I had better shit at home.

  • Isn’t she the one whose parents beat the crap out of each other? Maybe they should do a little LESS drinking at home.

  • My parents used to give me a shandy at their parties sometimes.. mostly 7-up with a tiny bit of beer in it.

    and i never drank or got drunk until i was the legal age. and i barely drink now so it’s not always a gateway to tragic life choices.

  • In most of Europe, the focus seems to be on food – and what drink (wine, or otherwise) that will compliment it best.
    I had a friend who went to Italy on vacation, and she said that she had the option of wine with her dinner (even though at the time, she was maybe fourteen) – and that it wasn’t considered to be a big deal.

    My parents have always been very open with liquor. They don’t really drink a lot, but they were never opposed to letting me sip whatever they were having if I wanted too.
    Most of the time though, I didn’t cause it tasted like piss.

    I think it’s like the study that showed kids who were allowed treats & sweets by their parents, were less likely to over-indulge. If something’s not restricted and it’s not viewed as a big deal, you’re less likely to feel the need to have as much as it as you can, as quickly as you can when it’s available.

  • Totally off topic, but her boobs are weird. Not sure what it is, but every dress she’s in looks like it doesn’t fit her quite right in the breasticle region.

  • come on, this isn’t anything to judge, it’s perfectly normal for a kid wanting to taste what their parents are drinking. when i was a kid, every saturday for lunch my parents had a glass of beer, and i had my teeny-tiny little beer mug, and they gave me a sip of beer with my lunch. every new year’s eve i would get a sip of champagne or red wine with coke… it’s normal in every family here. but, i’m not in the states and i guess a sip of something alcoholic might scream child-abuse or something to someone. not to me, or anyone i personally know. and, btw, i’m 24 now and i don’t drink alcohol at all. never. i just hate the taste of everything alcoholic. so i really didn’t end up being a drunk.

  • I’m actually not shocked at all. I’m currently an american living in Italy and when my friends and I go out to eat, we usually see children being given diluted wine with their meals. I think it’s great. Fortunately, my parents raised me without the “Don’t you dare touch this stuff until you’re 21” notion, and just told me to be careful in the amounts that I drank. We’re not italian, and we actually don’t even have alcohol in the house, but they’re okay with the fact that I drink socially and moderately. I think if more families in the US utilized the European style of introducing their children to alcohol, we wouldn’t have nearly as many problems with “teen drinking” and binge drinking, because alcohol wouldn’t be as taboo as some people seem to think it is. Hayden has grown up very nicely, and it could partially be because her parents didn’t try to shelter her away from alcohol until she was “legal.” Just my opinion.

  • Lol, i’m Italian, I mean real italian living in Italy, not fake italian living in America since 5 generations, and I can tell I don’t know any kid drinking wine at dinner or ever :P
    Really weird.

    • “fake Italian living in America since 5 generations”
      LOL exactly what I was thinking!

  • Breaking news, Guineas give their kids alcohol. What’s next, Russians having sex with kids, Jews nipping their kid’s pee pees, Chinese only having boys, French never giving their kids a bath. Greeks not having kids ’cause you can’t get pregnant by having only butt secks.

  • I’m full Italian my father is from Rome and my mother is from Tuscany Italy. Yes at around age 10 it is very normale for kids to have a glass of wine for dinner,lunch,and even sometimes breakfast!! I was born in Rome and I now live in North Carolina I go to school and im looking forward to becomeing an actress.Trust me kids drinking wine doesnt harm them it never harmed me(:

  • I’m full Italian my father is from Rome and my mother is from Tuscany Italy. Yes at around age 10 it is very normale for kids to have a glass of wine for dinner,lunch,and even sometimes breakfast!! I was born in Rome and I now live in North Carolina I go to school and im looking forward to becomeing an actress.Trust me kids drinking wine doesnt harm them it never harmed me(:

  • for evilbeetdoucheloser:
    guineas have taken to u an hard big stick, so your ass are burning now…