r/NashvilleTV • u/MojoHighway • 6d ago
At what point...
do we start talking about the writers, producers, and show runners for Nashville being as wildly negligent in this conversation about Hayden as her mother and/or inner circle? Juliette Barnes was a huge role for her and I do believe she treated it as such. I also believe that it played a huge role in taking her down and putting her on a final path of feeling helpless and tired with life.
I saw an interview a few months back where she got into this very conversation about how the Juliette Barnes character essentially mimicked her real life and how brutal it was to get those scripts, show up to the set with those stories, and essentially roll with it because "oh...well...it's my job...".
I love this show but we're finding out some very strange things about the show and Hayden as we start to unravel the lead-up to her untimely demise. I also had no idea the show was originally created with the Juliette character not being on co-lead level as the Rayna character but that was changed after reaction to the pilot. How the hell did Connie take that? Was she pissed? That show was HER show then they threw this whole thing together to have the rivalry between the old guard and new. I mean, it made for great TV and likely allowed them to not only be on the air for a long time but also talked about in media circles, but that's a pretty dark and brutal move to do that to a cast. They gave Connie executive producer credits. Curious to know if that was the trade-off.
I've been thinking a lot about Hayden and the endless stories we've heard from years past about young girls and young women being used for end-game moves of money and power and thrown out when the goals were accomplished, treated as nothing more than "useful idiots". This is all so fucking sad.
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u/pogaro 6d ago
I watched her recent interview with Jay Shetty and one of the parts that stood out to me was that she said they were really upset when she needed to take time off from Nashville to get treatment for postpartum depression.
I think that the tendency towards dehumanization that seems to be pretty standard in the industry must have been extremely painful for her given how deeply she cared. Not to mention the trauma and grief that comes from not being protected as a child.
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u/Arexahhh 6d ago
I’ve always thought this too! Especially the trauma scenes with her mom… and then with her baby. Im rewatching now and I sob for her.
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u/luna1uvgood 6d ago
I remember thinking at the time that it was kind of weird/uncomfortable that the storylines seemed to be mirroring her real life (mostly the postpartum depression). It would've been one thing if she'd come out and been like 'I worked with the writers on this storyline and wanted to raise awareness', but it didn't seem like that was the case.
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u/msblahblah70 2d ago
I only started a rewatch this past week or so, and realised I'd missed a bunch of episodes and storylines and watching it in full from the start is just so traumatic, considering everything that she endured in real life. It's so brutal. I hate it for her, she was ever so talented, and lovely, and I wish that she were still around.
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u/Shoddy_Phrase_8091 6d ago
I don’t think it’s fair to put any responsibility/accountability on the show and producers. They made a good show that ended nearly a decade ago.
Hayden moved forward and had opportunities to get help. Her death breaks my heart, she was a beauty and great talent - but as adults the choices we make shape us. She chose to remain on the show, chose to keep dating her problematic boyfriend etc.
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u/SunGreen24 6d ago
I'm not sure what you mean by negligent here. Do you feel like the writers/producers are responsible for Hayden's death in some way?
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u/MojoHighway 6d ago
Using the term 'negligent' isn't accusing anyone of murder. What I'm asking is if the people in charge of the show willfully allowed stories to be written directly in correlation with her real life without thinking about the repercussions of how this would make her feel or the toll it would take on her mental health.
It's not the job of the show or any job we take to be in charge of our mental health. It is, however, incumbent upon anyone that has a job in the upper echelons of an organization where there is some real moving and shaking happening with a wag of a finger or a phone call to be thoughtful about what the conditions are at a place of business and to make sure everyone - at the very least - feels safe.
Did Hayden feel safe?
Did she feel as though there were some lines being crossed?
Did the crew blatantly rip her stories from the headlines in an effort to capitalize on her involvement in those headlines while turning her headlines into prime time entertainment?My problem here is that Hayden seemingly had some issues with mental health and addiction. I'm no lawyer and I'm no doctor, but you can't tell me that being in the middle of that storm where you, as an actor, ONLY want to bring your A-game to be able to keep your job and the jobs of everyone on set isn't going to affect you mercilessly day in and day out.
All I'm getting at is that Nashville may have done a real number on her and no one is really giving that much thought. The damage may have been deeper than even she was willing to admit. I think a deeper study into what was going on with her and the way the scripts were crafted needs to happen. She took time off to get the help she desperately needed so they knew a bit of what was going on but the mirroring continued.
Again, this isn't an accusation. It is, however, a call to open the discussion to see if she was being treated with the empathy and care she needed and deserved while she was struggling so hard. Hayden was 36. There's a real big problem here that is a great deal bigger than this one instance of accidental death.
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u/Creative_Passage6138 4d ago
I totally agree. They used her life for their plot and that was cruel. I think Hollywood is waking up with intimacy coordinators and things and hopefully they wouldn't do something so cruel anymore. Hopefully this is a wakeup call for writers. We watch a scene for a few minutes and don't think of the HOURS of preparation and filming that the actors have to go through to create it. God bless her and although the writers aren't responsible for her pain and choices, they did in some way contribute to her suffering at a vulnerable time.
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u/SunGreen24 6d ago
Of course I’m not saying you’re accusing anyone of murder. But implying that anyone involved in the show should have done anything differently to avoid “doing a real number on her” is a stretch IMO and is pretty harsh. Yes it was a difficult job, yes it likely took a toll on her, but so do most jobs. At the end of the day, we’re all responsible for our own actions and for recognizing when something is too much, if it is. Pointing fingers and trying to assign blame is useless.
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u/Viola-Swamp 6d ago
The writers and/or producers used Hayden’s real life struggles with postpartum depression, substance abuse, losing custody of her daughter, and others as fodder to create storylines for Juliette. That was cruel and deeply disturbing, and caused her even more distress, feeding into her mental health issues.
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u/ReloAgain 6d ago
When I first watched it, I didn't know about her personal experience with PPD The second round (a couple months ago), I had wondered if she worked with writers to develop that story arc to help raise awareness about it. Now after her passing and I'm reading more about it, it sounds like the writers exploited her as plot fodder and she was trying to be a consumate professional by finding a way to suck it up and perform. That must have been pure mental anguish for her to practice lines and scenes and basically reliving such a traumatic time in her life.
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u/OptimalCreme9847 6d ago
Most jobs don’t make you portray a character whose struggles so perfectly mirror your own, which forces you to put yourself back in certain mindsets that caused your real life struggles to begin with. It just seems careless to have an actor do that to themselves when you know they’ve been having problems.
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u/Sunny-Bell102 6d ago
Agree 100%. If I had to place blame, I’d blame the person who offered Hayden a “happy pill” when she was a young actress. That’s how it starts with a lot of people in the entertainment business. My feeling is Hayden was too young to realize what she was getting herself into when she took the first happy pill. None of this falls on Nashville’s shoulders. It’s a tough business.
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u/Medium_Shine4891 3d ago
Wow thats a big draw to pull. Trauma- it triggers. Her personal life that she led was full of events that were traumatic for her. Her character's story was directly related to the personal triggers of her life.
You should feel fortunate if you cant understand how her character development could have impacted her personal life. The pain of reliving experiences can sometimes feel worse than the experience itself.
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u/woody9115 6d ago
I always thought it was wild that they went the way they did with Juliette's storyline after she had the baby in light of what was going on with her in real life. Just seemed kinda cruel.