Actress Hayden Panettiere, who starred in Heroes and Nashville and had spoken publicly about her battles with addiction, was found unresponsive in a South Carolina apartment and pronounced dead, days before her 37th birthday.
A friend discovered Panettiere unresponsive at approximately 1:15 p.m. on Sunday. Emergency crews responded and attempted advanced cardiac life support for roughly an hour. She was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. A coroner's autopsy will determine the official cause of death.
In 911 dispatch audio obtained by TMZ, an officer can be heard saying, "Responding. Overdose. CPR is in progress." The recording was described as short, with several sentences bleeped out. Detectives who conducted a preliminary investigation said they found no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances, The Sun reported.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, was the first to confirm her death publicly.
"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 on screen."
He asked for privacy as the family processes the loss. Skip Panettiere has now lost both of his children within three years. Hayden's brother Jansen died in 2023 at age 28 from an enlarged heart.
Panettiere first appeared in television commercials at eleven months old. She landed her first acting role at four on the soap opera One Life to Live. By nine, she had her Hollywood debut voicing Princess Dot in Pixar's A Bug's Life, a performance that earned her nominations for a Young Artist Award and a Grammy, making her the fifth-youngest Grammy nominee ever at the time.
She appeared in Remember the Titans alongside Denzel Washington in 2000. But the role that made her a household name came in 2006, when she began playing cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC's Heroes. She starred in 73 episodes over four seasons, from 2006 to 2010.
From 2012 to 2018, Panettiere played country singer Juliette Barnes on Nashville, a role that earned her two Golden Globe nominations across 128 episodes. She also returned to the horror franchise Scream, reprising the role of Kirby Reed in Scream 4 and Scream VI.
Panettiere had spoken publicly about her mental health and addiction difficulties. She described going through rehab and being sober afterward. Whether she remained sober at the time of her death has not been confirmed. The dispatch audio's reference to an overdose remains unverified by any official determination, the autopsy results are still pending.
Her personal life carried its own weight. She was in an on-and-off relationship with retired Ukrainian professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko between 2009 and 2018. The two were engaged in 2013 but never married. They had a daughter, Kaya. In 2018, Panettiere gave up custody of Kaya, citing postpartum depression.
After the relationship with Klitschko ended, Panettiere began dating Brian Hickerson in 2018. Hickerson was arrested, convicted, and jailed for domestic abuse against her. He served one day of a 45-day jail sentence. Despite the conviction, the two reconnected in 2021 and were reportedly involved in another physical altercation at a bar in West Hollywood.
Hickerson and Panettiere were spotted flying out of Los Angeles together on Saturday, the day before she was found dead. Their relationship status at the time of her death was described as unclear.
A man convicted of beating a woman serves a single day behind bars on a 45-day sentence, then walks back into her life. That fact alone deserves more public scrutiny than it has received.
Panettiere's final social media post, dated July 27, showed her smiling alongside photographer friend Randall Slavin, 56. She described it as celebrating good times and good friends. Slavin responded to her death with a simple post: "Peace be with you."
Actress Selma Blair wrote on Instagram:
"I love you. Don't be gone. Don't be gone. Please."
Scream co-star Melissa Barrera posted, "Rest in peace sweet Hayden." Tia Mowry also paid tribute.
Panettiere would have turned 37 on Friday. She had been in the public eye for nearly her entire life, first appearing on screen before she turned one, carrying a major network drama by her mid-teens, and earning two Golden Globe nominations before she turned 30.
Several questions remain unanswered. The specific city in South Carolina has not been officially identified. The friend who found Panettiere has not been named. And the coroner has not yet released autopsy results that would confirm or rule out an overdose as the cause of death.
When a young mother dies and the dispatch audio says "overdose," the public deserves a full accounting, not just a preliminary finding of no foul play, but a complete answer about what happened and whether anyone in a position to help failed to act.
