Hayden Panettiere made emotional comments about her future months before heartbreaking death
Scream and Heroes star Hayden Panettiere opened up about having 'a lot more life to live' just months before her tragic death aged 36.
The death of the US actress, famed for appearances in the Scream movies as well as Nashville, was confirmed by her representatives on Monday (17 August).
A representative said her family would remember her as an 'incredible light' who brought 'immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her'.
Her father Skip also asked that her family be given privacy as they 'take time to process this unimaginable loss'.
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No cause of death has been announced, however TMZ reported that police had been called to an incident involving the actress on Sunday (16 August) and that there is an open investigation.
Panettiere released her memoir just three months ago titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which he heartbreakingly spoke out about her experiences of addiction and postpartum depression.
She opened up on the difficult decision to give up custody of her only daughter Kaya, who she shares with her former partner and professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in 2018.
Panettiere also experienced the sudden loss of her younger brother Jansen three years ago. He passed away aged 28 due to an undiagnosed heart condition, leaving his sister devastated.
The actress was in tears as she was interviewed on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast to promote her book.
"I feel I have shaken off all of this darkness"
Following her rapid rise to fame, the pressure of the industry began to weigh on Panettiere, with the actress previously revealing that she had struggled with addiction throughout her 20s.
Speaking about her experience of postpartum depression after giving birth to her daughter in 2014, she told Shetty: "I had my daughter and I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong.
"I never felt any hostility or negativity towards my child, thankfully. But I wasn't connecting with her the way I should be.
"I was full of stress and anxiety the whole time, and what I was doing to suppress those emotions was not normal and it was not healthy.
"I was miserable, I was in tears all the time, even though the alcohol helped my nervous system calm down, it is a depressant, so over time it made things worse."
Heartbreakingly, she said she had come out the other side of these difficult experiences and was looking forward to what was ahead.
She said: "I finally feel like I have shaken off all of this darkness and this negativity.
"And that means I've closed one door and another door is opened and I can feel it opened and I can feel all the possibilities, all the exciting possibilities.
"I feel like I have a lot more life to live."
Discussing the custody of her child, she explained: “That was incredibly difficult. The fact that my child wasn’t going to be with me all day every day was just ... you can’t put words to it.
Who was Hayden Panettiere?
The 36-year-old began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas before gaining wider recognition for her role in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans alongside Denzel Washington, and as the voice of Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life.
Panettiere later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes before going on to star as up-and-coming country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on the hit TV series Nashville.
Her performances in Nashville earned her two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress, while her singing on the show produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Her film credits go on to include 2006’s Bring It On: All Or Nothing, comedy-drama film Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.
Co-stars pay tribute
Scream co-star Melissa Barrera paid tribute to the actress in an Instagram story, writing, “Rest in peace sweet Hayden,” alongside a broken heart emoji.
Commenting under Panettiere’s latest social media post after news of her death broke, actress Selma Blair said: “I love you. Don’t be gone. Don’t be gone. Please. Please.”
Meanwhile, singer JoJo wrote on her Instagram stories: “This is such devastating news. I am so sorry to hear of her passing. Oh My God.”
Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA, of which the actress had been a member since 1994, said in a post on X: “We mourn the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere. A child actor, Hayden’s long career in TV & film included memorable roles in ‘Heroes,’ ‘Nashville’ & more. Our hearts are with her daughter, family, friends & fans.”
A timeline of Hayden Panettiere’s troubled Hollywood career
August 1989
Hayden Panettiere is born to firefighter Skip Panettiere and Lesley Vogel, who would go on to be Hayden’s manager.
1990
Panettiere appears in a commercial at 11 months old, later landing recurring roles in soap operas as a child actor.
2004/2005
Aged 15, Panettiere said someone on her team started offering her ‘happy pills’. She later tells People: “They were to make me peppy during interviews.
"I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”
2006
Aged 17, Panettiere lands one of the defining roles of her career as Claire Bennett in Heroes.
2007-2009
Panettiere later reveals several disturbing incidents that happened during this period in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Aged 18, she claims she was led onto a yacht by ‘somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector’ and placed into bed next to an ‘undressed man who was very famous’.
In 2008, she alleged a network executive kissed her on the lips at a party.
Aged 19, she said a ‘well-respected, award-winning actor’ tricked her into looking at his testicles through an unzipped fly.
In 2007, she also starts dating Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia - she is 18 and he is 30. They split in 2009.
2009
Panettiere starts dating Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Meanwhile, her father Skip is handed two years of informal probation after pleading ‘no contest’ to spousal battery.
2013
Panettiere and Klitschko get engaged.
December 2014
Panettiere and Klitschko’s daughter Kaya is born. Panettiere endures an incredibly difficult pregnancy, haemorrhaging during her c-section and being forced to undergo a three-hour surgery.
2015
Panettiere begins suffering severe post-partum depression. She later tells Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast: “I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong. I wasn't connecting with [Kaya] the way I should be.”
She uses alcohol to manage her mental health struggles and enters treatment when Kaya is four months old.
She later says she became dependent on medication to sleep, and then turned to drinking vodka.
2018
Klitschko presents Panettiere with custody papers asking for full custody of Kaya. After initially fighting back, she eventually accepts and Kaya goes to live with Klitschko in Ukraine.
She writes in her memoir: “Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life”
Meanwhile, her long-running role in TV show Nashville comes to an end and she doesn’t have any more TV or film roles for five years.
In the same year, she starts dating actor Brian Hickerson.
2020
Panettiere spends an eight month stint in rehab.
She experiences brutal alcohol withdrawal symptoms including insomnia and intense headaches.
Meanwhile, her now-ex Hickerson is charged with felony assault.
2021
Hickerson pleads no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse/cohabitant/girlfriend/child's parent and is sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years probation.
2023
Panettiere returns to acting, reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.
In the same year, her brother Jansen dies aged 28 from an enlarged heart.
May 2026
Panettiere releases her memoir in which she makes disturbing allegations against film stars and industry execs from when she was a teenager.
She also opens up on her experience of postpartum depression and comes out as bisexual.
August 2026
Panettiere tragically dies. Police say: “The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, US News, Hayden Panettiere
James Holt