Los Angeles, Nov 19 (IANS): ‘Scream 4’ actress Hayden Panettiere is revealing what inspired her to go pink. Back in September, the actress, 34, surprised her fans by swapping her trademark blonde hair for a sassy pastel pink hue.

Now, in a new interview for IRK Magazine, Panettiere has explained that suddenly having an open schedule amid the Hollywood strikes presented her with an opportunity to experiment with her look in a way she hadn't been able to before, reports ‘People’ magazine.

"I’ve had pink hair before, and I loved it! I’ve been begging my team to let me dye it for a while now, and given what I had on my slate with work and photo shoots, I wasn’t able to," she told the magazine.

"Then the strike hit, so I thought… why not!? I’m not filming anything right now, and it’s an opportunity to do what I want with it and be creative differently”.

As per ‘People’, when Panettiere first debuted her pink 'do by sharing a selfie on Instagram, it was unclear at the time whether the colour change was simply temporary, especially as the snap appeared to have been taken at a photo studio.

"Pink hair don’t care!" she captioned the post, adding the hashtags #photoshoot #pinkhair #glamteam. However, Panettiere has stuck with the pink since then. She even gave it some extra punch with the addition of a touch of green at the roots. “Love my new watermelon vibes up top!" she joked on Instagram in September as she shared two photos of her updated look.