Hayden Panettiere spoke openly about personal struggles over the years amid successful career
Hayden Panettiere spoke openly about her personal struggles over the years prior to her death over the weekend at age 36.
First responders and emergency medical services responded to a 911 call at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday and located Panettiere, 36, in cardiac arrest, the Greenville County Coroner's Office said in a press release Monday. Responders "initiated advanced cardiac life support measures," but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful," officials said.
Panettiere's official cause and manner of death "remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies," the coroner's office added.
A representative for Panettiere confirmed the actress's death to ABC News late Sunday evening.
Panettiere, most known for starring roles on shows like "Heroes" and "Nashville," as well as her role as Kirby Reed in the "Scream" franchise, opened up in recent years about her experiences with postpartum depression, addiction, fame, grief and more.
Panettiere highlighted some of the struggles she faced in her memoir "This Is Me: A Reckoning," released in May this year.
In an interview with ABC News at the time of the book's release, Panettiere opened up about her family struggles and losing her brother only two years earlier.
Jansen Panettiere died suddenly in February 2023 from cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart, coupled with aortic valve complications, his family said in a statement at the time. He was 28.
"No matter how many times I talk about it and how much time passes, that is just a grief and a trauma that just evolves but time does not heal it," Hayden Panettiere told ABC News in May.
Discussing her relationship with her estranged mother, who served as her acting coach in her childhood, Panettiere said trying to maintain a relationship with her had been "tough."
"Over the years, I've tried to leave that door open, hoping that the relationship would evolve into a healthy mother-daughter relationship, and its obvious that that's just not going to be the case," she said at the time.
Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, responded to the comments in a May 2026 statement to Page Six.
"After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route. As many parents of entertainment children [know], we are all too familiar with the painful observation of watching the self-destructive paths they sometimes choose," she said in part at the time. "No parent hopes for this scenario; we want our children to be the best of themselves and live a peaceful, joyful life!"
Panettiere achieved early success as a child actor, landing roles in network soap operas like "One Life to Live" and "Guiding Light."
As a teen, Panettiere secured a role on the superhero drama series "Heroes" playing Claire Bennet, a mystically powerful cheerleader.
In an interview with Tamron Hall on "The Tamron Hall Show" in May this year, Panettiere opened up about her substance abuse issues, which she said ran concurrent with that successful acting career.
Panettiere specifically spoke about her first encounter with drugs as a teen and the addiction issues she had faced since then, describing being handed what she called "happy pills" at a red carpet event when she was 16 years old.
"This was somebody that I trusted so wholeheartedly to protect me," she said, adding that "it never crossed my mind in that moment" that they would put her "in a position of harm in any way."
Panettiere also told Hall about her decision to enter a rehabilitation center for eight months in 2020.
"When I got to the point of looking in the mirror and seeing my eyes had turned yellow, and that I didn't recognize my body anymore ... I went into that doctor's office and got a blood test, and he told me 'If you don't stop, you're going to be looking at a liver transplant,'" she recalled.
Panettiere also opened up in the interview about her experience with tabloid press, calling it a painful cycle.
"One week you were the most beautiful woman in the world, and the next week, it was like the higher they lifted you, the farther you had to fall," she told Hall.
In 2012, Panettiere took on a role as Juliette Barnes in "Nashville" which ran for six seasons, ending in 2018. Panettiere also welcomed daughter Kaya with then-fiance and heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko during that period, in 2014.
Speaking with "Good Morning America" in 2022, Panettiere said the years following her role on "Nashville" and the birth of her daughter had been difficult, as she struggled with alcoholism and postpartum depression.
"I didn't know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning," she continued. "And I ran myself pretty ragged."
Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that can begin within the first year after childbirth, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. People with postpartum depression may experience "extreme sadness, anxiety, and fatigue that may make it difficult to carry out daily tasks, including caring for themselves or others," according to the agency.
Symptoms of postpartum depression may last for weeks or months after giving birth, and are more intense and longer lasting than the "baby blues" that some people experience after giving birth, the agency states, noting that the disorder usually requires medical treatment.
Approximately 1 in 8 women experience symptoms of depression after giving birth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In an interview with the "Jay Shetty Podcast" in May, Panettiere opened up further about her experience with postpartum depression. She said she eventually turned to alcohol to self-medicate during that period.
"I never felt any hostility or negativity toward my child, thankfully, but I wasn't connecting with her the way that I knew I should be, and I was full of stress and anxiety all the time, and what I was doing to suppress those emotions was not normal and it was not healthy," she said.
"Even though the alcohol helped my nervous system calm down, it is a depressant. So, over time it made things worse, not better," she added.
If you are experiencing suicidal, substance use, or other mental health crises, or are worried about a friend or loved one, please call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline for free confidential assistance. You will reach a trained crisis counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
