Obituary
Details surrounding the actress’ death are currently unknown
Hayden Panettiere, the actress best known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville, has died, according to ABC News. She was 36.
“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,” said her father, Skip Panettiere, in a statement to Rolling Stone provided by the actress’ rep. “We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.” Details surrounding her death are currently unknown.
Born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, N.Y., Panettiere started her acting career before she could walk, with her mother, actress Lesley Vogel, booking commercials for her daughter. Before she turned five, she landed a role on the soap opera One Life to Live. She later joined the soap opera Guiding Light in 1996 before landing one of her most memorable roles as the football-loving young daughter of assistant coach Bill Yoast in the 2000 film Remember the Titans.
However, her true breakout role came in 2006, when she played cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC sci-fi series Heroes for four seasons. She continued to act steadily throughout her career, but her star hit an all-time high as Juliette Barnes in the series Nashville from 2012 to 2018. She earned two Golden Globe nominations for the role.
She is also known for her film and television roles in Remember the Titans, Raising Helen, Scream 4, Scream VI, Ice Princess, I Love You, Beth Cooper, and more.
Panettiere has long been candid about her struggles navigating child stardom and fame, often opening up about her experiences with severe postpartum depression (PPD), substance abuse, and anxiety. During an interview with podcast host Jay Shetty, she revealed she was bullied by a teacher as early as kindergarten, adding that, as her acting resume grew, she felt increasingly isolated from her peers. At 19, she dissolved her business relationship with her manager mother.
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In May, she released a memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. “The first thing I’d thought of when I woke up was alcohol. Not my child, not my job, and not the rest of my life. I needed a drink to function — at 6 a.m.,” she wrote in her memoir of her struggles to cope with PPD.
She is the mother to one child, daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, whom she had with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. Her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died in February 2023 of aortic valve complications at age 28.