Hayden Panettiere, the actress known to millions for her role on “Nashville,” died unexpectedly just days before her 37th birthday, after years marked by heartbreak, personal tragedy and struggles with addiction.
Her father, Skip, confirmed the devastating news late Sunday, hours after Panettiere was found dead in South Carolina. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said.
“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.”
What we know about her death
Panettiere’s body was discovered inside a Greenville, South Carolina, apartment by an unidentified friend, who reported an “unresponsive female” in “cardiac arrest” at 1:51 p.m. Sunday, according to TMZ.
Emergency responders attempted to revive her using “advanced cardiac life support,” a procedure that can involve chest compressions, defibrillators, breathing tubes and emergency medications such as IV drugs. She was pronounced dead at the scene a little more than 30 minutes later.
Authorities have not released an official cause of death, but Greenville police told NBC News on Sunday that “the preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”
An autopsy is expected to be performed Monday.
What we know about Panettiere’s final hours
Panettiere, who was from Palisades, New York, flew from Los Angeles to the South on Saturday with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson, a source told TMZ. It remains unclear why she had traveled there.
The pair dated on and off between 2018 and 2022, but their relationship was marred by multiple domestic violence incidents.
In April 2021, Hickerson was sentenced to 45 days in county jail after pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.
He was also hit with four years of probation, ordered to attend 52 domestic violence classes, and received a five-year restraining order that bars him from going near Panettiere.
Star suffered crippling pain that left her on crutches
Panettiere complained about back pain in the year leading up to her sudden death, a source close to the actress told TMZ.
She was even seen on crutches in Los Angeles airport in March, telling photographers that it was due to “pinched nerves in my lower back.”
“I’ve been dealing with an injury for the past year. Some nerve damage in my lower back,” she told Women’s Health in May.
“I wasn’t able to bend my toes or lift my foot at all. No one was able to give me a solid answer.
“It was like that for so long. I was sitting there going ‘Oh my gosh, am I going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life?’ It’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me physically for sure.”
Panettiere sustained injuries on-set, including being bucked off a zebra and having two vertebra pushed into her neck.
Her last post
Panettiere last posted on social media around two weeks before her death.
She shared a playful black-and-white snap on July 27 showing her winking and smiling with her tongue out as she wrapped an arm around photographer Randall Slavin at what appeared to be a crowded gathering.
“Good times and good friends @randallslavin ✨,” Panettiere captioned the post.
The comments section of that post has been inundated with tributes – from celebrities including Selena Blair, who wrote, “I love you. Don’t be gone.”
On July 21, she shared an image of the front cover of July’s edition of Dear Momé, entitled, “Hayden Panettiere Never Stopped Choosing Her Daughter.”
Battles with addiction, postpartum depression
Panettiere first appeared in Playskool toy train commercials aged 11 months, but her biggest breakthrough came when she was 16 with her role in “Heroes.”
However, she later revealed she was just 15 when she was offered “happy pills” before a red-carpet event.
“They were to make me peppy during interviews,” she told People.
“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.”
Panettiere revealed she couldn’t be “messy” on set.
“But things kept getting out of control [off-set],” she said. “And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.”
Panettiere welcomed her daughter Kaya with then-fiance Wladimir Klitschko in December 2014 – whom she dated between 2009 and 2011, and 2013-18.
In October 2015, she sought treatment for postpartum depression, voluntarily checking into a rehab center.
She checked into a rehab center in 2020, and spent eight months receiving treatment.
Panettiere recalled in her memoir, “This is Me: A Reckoning,” that doctors told her she risked being dead within five years if she didn’t stop drinking.
Brother died from undiagnosed heart condition
Panettiere died a little over three years after her brother Jansen. Jansen Panettiere, 28, died unexpectedly in February 2023 from an undiagnosed heart condition.
Medical examiners attributed his death to an enlarged heart combined with aortic valve complications.
“He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him,” she told People in September 2024, her first comments about her brother’s death.
“When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul.
“I will always be heartbroken about it. I will never be able to get over it. No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss.”
