United Kingdom, Aug. 18 -- Sylvia Jefferies has admitted Hayden Panettiere wasn't always "easy to be around" on Nashville.

The 57-year-old star played Jolene Barnes, mother to Panettiere's character Juliette, on the hit ABC country music drama, and she has paid tribute to her on-screen daughter in a candid and poignant statement.

She wrote on Instagram: "This hits deep. I've had to take the day to let the idea that Hayden is not with us, wash over me. I shoot straight from the hip.

"At times, Hayden was not easy to be around. I remember calling her a downright tornado. But she was our tornado.

"The sun that appears, the light mist that begins, the rain that gets heavier, the swirling of everything around her, and then the gentle taper...