Selma Blair was among the earliest celebrities to publicly mourn Hayden Panettiere after reports emerged Sunday night that her close friend had died unexpectedly.
Blair, 54, left a series of emotional messages beneath Panettiere’s most recent Instagram post soon after news circulated that the Nashville actress had passed away over the weekend at the age of 36.
‘I love you. Don’t be gone. Don’t be gone. Please. Please,’ Blair wrote in a devastated comment under a photo Panettiere had posted on July 27.
Eleven minutes later, Blair returned to the post with another tender message, writing: ‘I love you whale tail my friend.’
The actress then came back once more, her grief spilling into a third comment.
‘I’m dying. Please be here,’ Blair wrote beneath Panettiere’s Instagram photo.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for both Blair and Panettiere seeking comment, but no response has been received so far.
Panettiere’s cause of death was not immediately known, though law enforcement sources told TMZ that police had responded to an incident involving the actress.
‘There’s an investigation ongoing,’ Panettiere’s publicist said in a statement to NBC News. ‘We should know more tomorrow.’
Following reports of Hayden Panettiere’s unexpected death at 36 over the weekend, stars flocked to pay tribute to the late Heroes star; Panettiere is pictured in 2016
Selma Blair, 54, sounded as if she was in shock as she posted an anguished comment on Panettiere’s final Instagram post from July 27; Blair is pictured in November 2025 in LA
‘I love you. Don’t be gone. Don’t be gone. Please. Please,’ an anguished Blair wrote under a photo Panettiere had shared on July 27. ‘I love you whale tail my friend,’ Blair wrote in another comment 11 minutes later
Blair had previously shared kind words after the Heroes star’s brother, Jansen Panettiere, died February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’ aged 28.
On an Instagram post dated to December 2022 on Jansen’s page, the Legally Blonde actress had written, ‘Fly with the angels.’
Panettiere has said that she felt like she ‘lost half of her soul’ following his death, and revealed that the stress of his loss resulted in her body ‘ballooning out’, which left her in a ‘really bad’ and ‘destructive’ place.
Representatives for the former child star announced on Sunday: ‘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.’
Panettiere’s final Instagram post featured a jubilant black-and-white photo of the actress playfully sticking her tongue out for the camera while she was embraced by her friend, the director and podcaster Randall Slavin.
Slavin reposted the photo in his Instagram Stories on Sunday night as he paid tribute to his fallen friend.
‘Peace be with you, H,’ he wrote while adding an animated red heart.
Blair returned minutes later with another sorrowful comment
Panettiere’s final Instagram post from July 27 featured a black-and-white snap of her playfully sticking her tongue out while she was embraced by her friend, the director and podcaster Randall Slavin. Slavin reposted the photo on Sunday with a tribute
Rosie O’Donnell was among the stars registering their heartbreak over news of Panettiere’s death
Panettiere’s tragic death at 36 over the weekend was announced on Sunday night. She is pictured here at a gala in Hollywood in 2022
The tragic news comes just months after her memoir, This is Me, became a New York Times bestseller
Panettiere is remembered for her roles as Claire Bennet on the hit NBC series Heroes
The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists wrote on X: ‘We mourn the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere’
Simon Cowell’s wife Lauren, Courtney Stodden and actress Tia Mowry all commented broken heart emojis on Hayden’s last Instagram post
Melissa Barrera played Sam Carpenter in Scream VI alongside Hayden. She wrote: ‘Rest in peace sweet Hayden.’
Rosie O’Donnell was among the stars registering their heartbreak over news of Panettiere’s death.
Panettiere recently released a memoir
‘Oh my god – heartbroken #hayden,’ the former talk show host wrote to accompany a beaming photo of the late actress.
O’Donnell had hosted Panettiere on her eponymous talk show back in 2000, when the child star had wowed O’Donnell by singing Britney Spears’s song Crazy a cappella.
Singer JoJo took to her Instagram stories and wrote: ‘This is such devastating news. I am so so sorry to hear of her passing.’
Simon Cowell’s wife Lauren, Courtney Stodden and actress Tia Mowry all commented broken heart emojis on Hayden’s last Instagram post.
Melissa Barrera played Sam Carpenter in Scream VI alongside Hayden.
She wrote: ‘Rest in peace sweet Hayden.’
Hayden showed her support to Melissa after she was controversially dropped from Scream 7. She called the decision ‘very unfair and upsetting’.
The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists wrote 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.’
On Sunday, sources told TMZ that Panettiere had been recently complaining of back pain and that she and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, flew from Los Angeles to the south just one day before her tragic passing.
The Hollywood star earned multiple award nominations across her career, most notably while playing cheerleader Claire Bennet on Heroes and Juliette Barnes on Nashville.
She also appeared in the Scream franchise as Kirby Reed, and lent her voice to the video games Until Dawn and Kingdom Hearts.
Panettiere started out as a child star, with her first acting gig at just 11 months old
The actress’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, passed away in February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’. They’re seen together in 2011
Panettiere leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter with ex Wladimir Klitschko
The tragic news of her death comes just months after her memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, became a New York Times bestseller.
In the book, Panettiere described how she contended with fame and handled the difficulties in her life.
She had suffered from drug addiction, beginning when she was just 15 years old.
At the time, she claimed she started taking ‘happy pills’ in an effort to make her seem more ‘peppy’ during interviews.
Her addiction then became worse as she was battling postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Kaya in 2014.
But Panettiere has been sober in recent years, she said in a 2022 interview, noting that ‘it’s an everyday battle.’
‘It’s an everyday choice, and I’m checking in with myself all the time,’ Panettiere told People at the time.
‘But I’m just so grateful to be part of this world again, and I will never take it for granted again.’
Panettiere is seen crying following her brother’s celebration of life event in their hometown of Palisades, New York
Panettiere is pictured with her daughter, after telling how she almost died during childbirth
She has also told how she nearly died during childbirth, and later relinquished custody of her daughter to her ex, former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, while struggling with postpartum depression in 2018.
Her daughter now lives in Europe.
Speaking of the decision, Panettiere said she ‘desperately’ needed help at the time and insisted that Kaya does not feel ‘abandoned’ while appearing in an episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast.
‘The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn’t be further from the truth,’ Panettiere said.
‘I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and postpartum and having to act my way through it, and just feeling like I completely lost myself,’ she added.
Panettiere has also come out as bisexual as she promoted her new book.
‘It’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?’ the Nashville alum told Us Weekly in May.
‘I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable saying I’m bisexual. I’m comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!’
Despite having little privacy due to ‘paparazzi always outside waiting for me,’ Panettiere still managed to secretly date women, whom she preferred to men from ‘a very, very young age.’
Panettiere came out as bisexual as she promoted her new book
She played Juliette Barnes on the ABC show Nashville, releasing a number of her own songs
Panettiere is pictured with actor Adrian Pasdar on the set of Heroes
‘[I was] much more into women,’ the two-time Golden Globe nominee said.
‘But, yeah, I have explored it, but I don’t think I ever had the courage, because I hadn’t shared this with anybody.
‘I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully, emotionally into it, because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide. I didn’t feel confident enough, and I was too afraid to really let that part of me explore that part of me.’
Panettiere was born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, New York.
She first started acting at just 11 months old when she appeared on screen in a commercial.
Her full-time acting career then began in 1994 when she played Sarah Roberts in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live until 1997. She then played Lizzie Spaulding in the CBS soap opera Guiding Light from 1996 to 2000.
For her role on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award and Grammy Award, making her the fifth-youngest nominee for a Grammy.
Her other credits include Remember the Titans, Ally McBeal, Racing Stripes, Ice Princess and I Love You, Beth Cooper.
Panettiere also recorded a number of songs for the films and television programs she was in, including My Hero is You for the Disney Channel film Tiger Cruise and I Fly for the Disney film Ice Princess, which she co-starred in with the late Michelle Trachtenberg.
Her first single not associated with an acting role, the reggae-infused Wake Up Call, was digitally released on August 5, 2008.
Clothing brand Candie’s announced it was premiering an ad campaign for the single in late July of that year, and provided additional promotion for the song with a television ad and a music video starring Sebastian Stan, who played Panettiere’s brother in The Architect.
Panettiere later saw fame as one of the stars of Nashville, which ran from 2012 to 2018 and for which she was nominated for two Golden Globe awards. ‘
SAG-AFTRA added that it ‘mourns the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere.’
This is a breaking news story.
