Hayden Panettiere, ‘Heroes’ and ‘Nashville’ Star, Dead at 36

Hayden Panettiere, the Golden Globe-nominated actress best known for her roles in hit television shows 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’ representative. “We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.” Details surrounding her death are currently unknown.

Panettiere was known for her broad-ranging film and television roles in Remember the Titans, Raising Helen, Scream 4, Scream VI, Ice Princess, and I Love You, Beth Cooper. A gifted comic and dramatic performer, Panettiere was beloved by fans for her dynamic performances as both a child and as an adult. She struggled with being thrust into a public-facing life from a young age, later admitting to issues with addition and mental health in interviews and in her brutally honest memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was released in May.

Born on August 21, 1989 in Palisades, New York, Panettiere started her acting career before she could walk, with her mother, actress Lesley Vogel, booking commercials for her daughter. She was successful from early on: Before Panettiere turned five, she landed a role on the soap opera One Life to Live. She later joined the soap opera Guiding Light in 1996. In 2000, she landed one of her most memorable roles as the football-loving young daughter of assistant coach Bill Yoast in drama film Remember the Titans, notably acting opposite Denzel Washington.

“This movie was my favorite movie to film,” she told ET in 2023. “What an incredible time in my life. … You have no idea how many times in my life I have wished and prayed—if I had wished to go back to any time in my life, it would be going back to Remember the Titans.”
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Panettiere’s true breakout role came in 2006, when she played cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC sci-fi series Heroes for four seasons. The sci-fi series, created by Tim Kring, was an immediate success and solidified Panettiere a TV star. She won Choice TV Actress: Drama at the Teen Choice Awards in 2007, and was nominated for a Saturn Award.

It was around this time that Panettiere began being hounded by the tabloid press. In her memoir, the actress recalled being constantly followed by photographers and being surprised that headlines about her weight were published when she was only 16 years old. “Sometimes, things would get through,” she wrote. “My publicist would get a call asking for comment about something about my life, and I’d have to decide, do I go no comment and let them put out whatever version they want? Or do I comment to get ahead of it, but be forced to talk about things that I really don’t want to?”

Panettiere 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 departed the series in its fourth season in 2015 to spend time in a treatment facility for depression, but she returned several months later and was part of the cast until the show ended in 2018.

During that period, Panettiere admitted that she struggled with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, her only child with Ukrainian champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in 2014. In her memoir, she admitted to drinking heavily in order to cope. She recalled waking up shaking, and would need an entire bottle of alcohol to get through the day, unless she used opioids to help her not drink. In her memoir, she wrote that a doctor told her she’d “be dead within five years” if she didn’t stop drinking.
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“The first thing I’d thought of when I woke up was alcohol,” she wrote. “Not my child, not my job, and not the rest of my life. I needed a drink to function — at 6 a.m.”

The writers on Nashville notably used Panettiere’s personal struggles in the writing of her character. “Juliette Barnes had postpartum depression, and alcohol and pill problem, and a divorce on the horizon,” the actress recalled. “She was erratic, an absentee mother, and fought with everyone, including her fans. Every time I read the day’s script, it was like I was looking in a funhouse mirror, seeing a distorted reflection of myself. I can’t tell you how lost this made me feel.”

Klitschko successfully sought full custody of Kaya. Panettiere wrote that she agreed to give us custody to avoid a legal battle that would “destroy me psychologically at a time when my heart and soul were weaker than they’d ever been.”

Despite her challenges behind the scenes, Panettiere continues acting in film and on TV regularly. After playing Kirby Reed in 2011’s Scream 4, the actress reprised the role in 2023’s Scream VI.

“Hayden is a real powerhouse,” Wes Craven, the director of Scream 4, said while promoting the film. “Tremendous technical ability. Able to bring enormous emotionalities to something very quickly. Smart. Just so full of life and laughter and fun.”

“I don’t usually have a lot of expectations in life. In this industry, expectations lead to disappointment,” Panettiere told ET of returning to the role so many years later. “But yeah, it was thrilling that people fell in love with Kirby. I loved playing Kirby, so I’m glad they love her as much as I did.”

Panettiere has long been candid about her struggles navigating child stardom and fame, often opening up about her experiences with severe postpartum depression, substance abuse, and anxiety, although her memoir contained many new revelations. 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, with whom she continued to have a complex relationship. Her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, who also dealt with substance abuse, died in February 2023 of aortic valve complications at age 28. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson was arrested multiples after physically assaulting Panettiere. He served a jail sentence of 45 days in 2021.
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Although personal complications shadowed her life, Panettiere maintained a sunny disposition in the public spotlight. She was a charming interview and enchanted fans with her sense of genuine curiosity about the human condition, something she explored onscreen as well. In May, she told the New York Times she had a “laundry list of aspirations,” including directing and producing, and maybe creating a jewelry or makeup line. She described herself as having “an incredible bond” with Kaya. “I dare say we even have a friendship,” Panettiere said.

Beyond her acting career, Panettiere will be remembered for helping others by sharing her story. In May, she appeared at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles to promote her memoir. “So many people have have come up to me within the industry and outside of the industry and shared their stories with me and said, ‘Because you’ve talked about your mental health, it gave me the courage to be honest about mine and get myself help and you saved my life,’” she told the audience. “I was like, This is worth it.’ I can hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it.”