Hayden Panettiere is officially stepping into author era with her debut memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, arriving May 12 via Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.

The book promises to pull back the curtain on a life the public has watched for years, but never fully understood, giving Hayden the chance to tell her story the way she’s always wanted to. Fans can already preorder the memoir now, including signed copies for anyone who wants a little extra piece of history!

Speaking with Us Weekly about the project, Hayden admitted this wasn’t something she always pictured herself doing. “It’s certainly daunting to put my life on full display for the world to read,” she said, adding that writing a memoir wasn’t on her bingo card, “or at least, not while I was still so young.” That honesty alone sets the tone: this isn’t a polished PR recap, it’s her sitting down and deciding to be fully, maybe uncomfortably, real.

She also shared that part of what pushed her to write the book was how often other people tried to control the narrative. “I realized that for so many years of my life, with all of its twists and turns, everyone else was trying to tell my story for me,” she told the magazine. “This book is an opportunity for me to share my side of the story on my terms.” For someone who grew up in the spotlight, that line hits hard. This is about taking her life back, page by page.

With a title like This Is Me: A Reckoning, it sounds like Hayden is ready to confront the highs, lows, and everything in between, not just for shock value, but for closure.

Between a long Hollywood career, public struggles, and comebacks fans have rooted for in real time, there’s a lot people have only seen from the outside. Now, they get to hear it directly from her, no filter, no spin, just Hayden finally getting the last word.