Heroes and Scream star Hayden Panettiere dies aged 36
Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere has died aged 36.
A representative for the star confirmed the tragic news in a statement to PEOPLE.
The statement read: “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.
“She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”
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Speaking to ABC News, her father Skip Panettiere asked for privacy as the ‘family takes time to process this unimaginable loss’.
No further details surrounding her death have been shared.
Panettiere appeared on screen for the first time at just 11 months old in a commercial, from there she began acting in 1994 after securing a role on the soap One Life to Live before moving to rival soap Guiding Light in 1996, where she remained until 2000.
At just nine-years-old she made her feature film debut, as the narrator and voice of Princess Dot in A Bug's Life, for which she nominated for a Young Artist Award and Grammy Award.
However, she’s perhaps best-known for the role of Claire Bennet, a high school cheerleader with healing powers, on the hit NBC series Heroes.
She later played Juliette Barnes on the musical drama Nashville, earning herself several award nominations and appearing in six seasons of the popular show.
Panettiere also made several appearances on the big screen, with roles in Scream 4, Remember the Titans, and Raising Helen.
In May this year, she released a memoir titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she opened up about her struggles with postpartum depression, addiction and recovery.
And it was these struggles that the star said helped her make 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.
Speaking on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast just weeks ago, Panettiere said she was initially against the idea when her ex partner suggested it.
“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,” she said.
However, she changed her mind after realising how stressful it was for the youngster to travel back and forth between the US and Ukraine and seeing what a ‘beautiful life’ she had out there.
Panettiere stayed in regular contact with her child before her death.
In 2024, Panettiere spoke about the grief she felt following the sudden loss of her younger brother Jansen the year before.
Jansen passed away due to an undiagnosed heart condition, leaving his sister devastated.
"I think it's something that transforms over time," she told TODAY in 2024.
"Maybe the five stages of grief is for people who have had a heartbreak or find out some bad news. Like, yes, there are five stages, but there's so much more in between.
“When you lose somebody that you saw in all the important moments in your life, standing right next to you, it just rocks your world.”
Claire Reid