Hayden Panettiere Dead at 36, Investigation Ongoing
Hayden Panettiere, the actress known for her roles in "Heroes" and "Nashville," has died at 36.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death in a statement Sunday night, saying the family was sharing news of "the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden." He described his daughter as "an incredible light and a force of nature" who brought love and joy to everyone who knew her, as well as to the millions of fans who watched her on screen, and asked for privacy as the family processes what he called an unimaginable loss.
Panettiere died at a home in Greenville, South Carolina. Police said officers and EMS personnel responded to a report of an unresponsive woman at around 1:50 p.m., and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her publicist, Kasey Kitchen, said an investigation into her death is ongoing, and an autopsy was expected to be performed Monday. Police said the preliminary investigation has not turned up signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. A specific cause of death had not been released as of Sunday night.
A Career That Began in Infancy
Panettiere began working as an infant, appearing in television commercials before she turned one. She went on to appear in soap operas including "One Life to Live" and "Guiding Light" starting at age 4, before rising to wider fame as a teenager.
Her breakout role came on NBC's "Heroes," where she played cheerleader Claire Bennet starting in 2006, a part that made her a household name and introduced her to a generation of television viewers. She later starred as country singer Juliette Barnes on ABC's "Nashville," a role that ran across the show's six seasons and became one of the defining performances of her adult career. She also appeared in the "Scream" film franchise and lent her voice to animated projects over the years.
Outside acting, Panettiere served as a campaign spokesperson for the Whaleman Foundation, an organization focused on protecting ocean mammals and their habitats. Her activism around marine conservation dated back to at least 2007, when she was involved in efforts opposing dolphin hunting practices in Japan.
A Family That Endured Loss Before
Panettiere's younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died suddenly in February 2023 at age 28 from cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart, along with aortic valve complications. She spoke openly about the grief that followed, telling NBC's "Today" show that losing someone who had stood beside her through life's most important moments "rocks your world." In a separate interview with People roughly two years after his death, she said she didn't think she would ever fully get over the loss.
Panettiere shared a daughter, Kaya, born in 2014, with her former fiancé, boxer Wladimir Klitschko. The two were in a relationship from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2018, a period during which Panettiere often appeared alongside Klitschko at his fights and public events.
A Recent Memoir Opened Up About Her Struggles
In May, Panettiere published a memoir titled "This Is Me: A Reckoning," in which she wrote candidly about growing up as a child star, her experiences with postpartum depression and addiction, and her decision to give up custody of her daughter in 2018. In interviews tied to the book's release, she said she had been fiercely protective of the people in her life while writing it, wanting to tell her own story honestly without dragging others through difficult details that weren't hers to share.
The memoir arrived after years of Panettiere speaking more openly about mental health and recovery than she had earlier in her career, when much of her personal life played out under intense public scrutiny. She was last seen publicly at LaGuardia Airport in May ahead of the memoir's release.
Panettiere would have turned 37 this coming Friday.
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