Hayden Panettiere has become a well-known star over the past few years following her role as Claire Bennett in Heroes and her current role as Juliette Barnes in Nashville. On top of being a famous actress, over the past nine years, Hayden has been in a relationship with Boxing star Wladimir Klitschko.

While it was considered to be a strange union between the two stars that many fans found hard to accept when it was first announced, it seems that the couple has been able to push past all of the negativity and have now remained together for almost a decade. The duo recently announced the arrival of their first child (a daughter) but even though there have been rumours about marriage, the couple still has yet to tie the knot. They came close a few times, and actually almost ended things completely, but we'll go into that later on.

Like any other relationship, Hayden and Wladimir have had their own obstacles to overcome over the past few years. It seems that they have managed to band together and overcome them as a family. The following list looks at just 15 facts that fans of the duo don't know about the couple that has made a number of headlines ever since they decided to publicly announce their relationship more than eight years ago.

15 There Is A 14 Year Age Gap

Hayden Panettiere and Wladimir Klitschko's relationship has gotten a lot of negative attention in the press over the past few years, mainly because of the age gap between the actress and the World Champion Boxer. Hayden is now 28 years old, while her fiance is 42 which means that there incredibly is 14 years between Hayden and her long-term partner.

It seems that the couple hasn't allowed the age gap to become a problem for them and now have a daughter called Kaya Evdokia Klitschko who was born back in 2014 and it seems that her birth has only served to bring the couple closer together. Hayden currently stars as Juliette Barnes on popular TV show Nashville, while her fiance is focused on his family following his retirement from boxing last year.

14 The Couple Met When Hayden Was Just 19-Years-Old

Hayden and her fiance met back in 2009 when the actress was just 19-years-old, at the time he was 33. It is reported that the couple met at a book launch party for their mutual acquaintance Diana Jenkins' the book was called Room 23 and while both stars appeared in the book but confessed that at the time when they met, neither had any idea who the other one was.

It wasn't long after their first awkward interaction that the couple revealed that they had started a relationship. While Hayden had been linked to a number of stars in her younger years, Wladimir is still her longest relationship to date and even though the couple wasn't predicted to last very long, they have managed to defy all of the doubters.

13 Hayden Was The One Who Asked Wladimir Out

Hayden appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show and the host raised the subject of her relationship and the question of how the couple met. Hayden then shared a story about how she walked over to the boxer and stated "You're huge" to which he then replied "You're tiny" and that was seemingly it.

As part of the interview, the actress also talked about how her kids would look given the huge size gap between the couple and she stated that she thought that the fact that she had knocked knees and her fiance had bowed legs meant that her child would be perfect since it would be a mix between them. She already stated that her child would be normal since once again it would be a mixture between them.

12 Hayden Nicknamed Her Fiance "Borat"

Hayden and Wladimir have been together now for eight years on and off and the couple has been able to reach the point where they can give each other cute nicknames. Even though Wladimir is a former World Champion boxer and someone who wouldn't usually look like the sort that requires a cute nickname, Hayden revealed that she refers to her fiance as Borat.

Hayden appeared on the Graham Norton show in the UK where she stated that she called her partner "Borat" because he was born in Kazakhstan and at one point even attempted to buy him the bathing suit and get him to wear it. The couple definitely has a sense of humour when it comes to their relationship.

11 Their First Date Was At The Magic Castle In L.A.

Hayden and Wladimir have been quite private when it comes to their personal life, but she was kind enough to reveal details about the couple's first date where she spoke to US magazine and revealed that the duo went to The Magic Castle in LA for their first date. It was obviously something different, but the duo is far from what would be considered a normal couple, but this made quite the impression since they remained together for two years after this.

It was reported that the duo were friends for a few months after they first met back in 2009, but they then began dating and haven't looked back. Hayden seems to fondly remember her first date with the former boxer so he definitely made their first date a memorable one.

10 Cheering On Her Husband

Hayden was in a relationship with Wladimir for around six years of his boxing career and was always seen cheering on her boyfriend. Like many wives and girlfriends of boxers or athletes that are part of combat sports, she finds it hard to watch her boyfriend in the ring, but she still decides to cheer him on.

Hayden stated in an interview that she has to suppress the urge to jump into the ring and defend her boyfriend, but she knows that this is his career and she is completely in awe of everything that he does. Even though he's a giant in the boxing world, outside of the ring he is a completely different person and she claims that he is an incredible father to their daughter.

9 The Couple Dated For Two Years And Then Split Back In 2011

As already mentioned, Hayden and Wladimir met back in 2009 and after a few months of being friends, the couple announced that they had started a romantic relationship. Their relationship was going smoothly until it was revealed that they had split back in 2011.

The couple stated that the long-distance nature of their relationship was one of the reasons why their relationship didn't work out the first time around. The duo stated that they would remain, close friends, and merely months later they then revealed that they were dating once again. They managed to smooth out all of the issues that they were having before and less than a year after the couple announced the birth of their first child and have been inseparable ever since.

8 Hayden Struggled After The Birth Of Her Daughter

Hayden gave birth to her first child, a daughter back December 2014 and following Kaya's birth, Hayden suffered from postpartum depression. The actress has been outspoken about the fact that she needed help to connect with her daughter for a long time and then was able to relive these issues as part of her storyline as part of Nashville when her character Juliette Barnes also struggled after the birth of Cadence.

In October 2015 Hayden voluntarily checked into a facility to gain the help that she needed and even missed a few episodes of Nashville because of it but has since been an advocate for women who were struggling with the illness and even stated that the issue itself is "scary and needs to be talked about." Wladimir has supported Hayden throughout her struggle and has always been her rock.

7 Karolína Kurková Claims That She Was In A Relationship With Wladimir Before He Met Hayden

Hayden was only 19 when the couple first met, but Wladimir was in his 30s and it seems that he has quite the dating history before his union with the actress. Before the duo was linked together the boxer was linked to Czech model Karolina Kurkova even though their relationship was never actually confirmed.

Wladimir has also been linked to a number of other women including Alena Gerber, Yvonne Catterfeld and Diana Kovalchuk. Both Hayden and Wladimir had quite the dating history before they met, so to be able to come from being on the dating radar to settling down was obviously something huge for both stars and something that has allowed them to welcome their first child even though they are both technically from different generations.

6 Hayden Postponed Her Wedding Back In 2014

Hayden and Wladimir are definitely in no hurry to tie the knot, but just a year after they announced that they were engaged, the couple revealed that they had decided to postpone their pending nuptials because of the crisis in Ukraine. Wladimir's brother Vitali was one of the government leaders at that time and the couple was needed to support the former boxer throughout this time.

Even though this happened almost four years ago, the couple is in no hurry to reschedule and don't seem that they even want to get married anymore. Both stars are focused on their careers and their daughter right now so it seems that a trip down the aisle isn't high on their agenda at present.

5 The Euromaidan-Protests In Kiev

Ever since Hayden started dating the former boxer, she has stepped into his world and has always been supportive of his Ukrainian roots. It has already been reported that the star postponed her wedding because of the crisis in Ukraine, but she and her partner even headed over to Kiev and addressed the crowds who were part of the Euromaidan-protests.

Hayden told the protesters to "Keep on fighting, I love you all" when the duo visited back in 2014. She and Wladimir were supportive of the issues that his native country was facing at that time, especially since her future brother-in-law was part of the government and needed their support as well as a leading figure of the protests at that time.

4 Hayden Had A Number Of Relationships Before She Met Wladimir

Hayden has been part of the acting world ever since she was just 11 months old and began appearing in TV commercials, which means that she has been forced to grow up in the spotlight. Hayden began dating fellow actor Steven Colletti back in 2006 but the couple later broke up when the actress landed the role in Heroes.

She was just 16 years old when she was cast as Claire Bennett in Heroes and it was this role that allowed her to meet her first boyfriend Milo Ventimiglia. This relationship lasted from 2007 up until 2009 when it is reported that the duo broke up and Hayden then met Wladimir later the same year. The star is also reported to have had relationships with Jesse McCartney, Steve Jones, and Harry Morton.

3 Hayden Is 5'2" While Wladimir Is 6'6"

Incredibly, the 14 year age gap between Hayden and Wladimir hasn't been the only thing that the media has been hung up on over the past few years, the fact that Hayden is much shorter than her giant fiance has always been something that many fans have needed to comment on as well.

Hayden is just 5"2 inches, but her former boxer boyfriend is now 8"7 inches and towers over the actress in every image that the couple has shared online. Their size could have been an issue when they first met but over the past few years the duo have been able to adapt and even though the age and their height are both something that is considered to be a huge gap, the duo have remained together and overcome a number of obstacles as a united team.

2 Wladimir Doesn't Think That Their Nuptials Are Important

Ever since Hayden and Wladimir announced that they were engaged five years ago, the media has been pressuring the couple to set a date for the union, but since the birth of their daughter, it doesn't seem that the Ukrainian giant has any pressing plans to put a ring on Hayden's finger.

In an interview back in 2014 the star stated that he understands the point of marriage and the promises that couples make to each other, but he thought that having a child together connects two people until the end of their days no matter what and even stated that he thought that their daughter connected them. He stated that their connection through their daughter is better than any marriage but there will be plans to move forward with their relationship at some point.

1 Hayden Is The Dominant One In Their Relationship

Even though the Ukrainian giant was seen as one of the most dominant stars in the boxing ring when it comes to his personal relationship with the petite blonde actress, it's Hayden who wears the trousers. The Nashville star has claimed that she is the dominant one and that she can actually throw Wladimir around like a rag doll and he allows it.

Behind every great man there is always a woman who is pushing him into that position and even though he could easily be seen as the one who holds all the cards in any relationship, the former boxer has made the decision to allow his fiancee to be in one who's in charge, which is actually quite a cute thing to do.