South Carolina — Hayden Panettiere spent much of her life in the public eye, beginning her acting career as an infant before becoming widely recognized for roles in television and film. In the months before her death at age 36, she spoke candidly about painful experiences from her past and said she was optimistic about moving into a new chapter.
Panettiere died after being found in cardiac arrest at an apartment in South Carolina. Her death came just months after she said she felt she had moved beyond some of the darkness that had accompanied years of personal struggles.
Her career started when she was only 11 months old, when she appeared in a Playskool toy train commercial. At 7, she joined the cast of the long-running soap opera “Guiding Light,” portraying Lizzie Spaulding.
She later gained international recognition as Claire Bennet on “Heroes” and Juliette Barnes on “Nashville.” Her role on “Nashville” also gave her an opportunity to perform music on the series, and several of those recordings appeared on the Billboard country charts.
Panettiere was also open about the difficulties of growing up in the entertainment business and the lasting effects of those experiences.
In May, she appeared on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, discussing topics from her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning.” She talked about growing up in the entertainment industry, addiction and her complicated relationship with her mother, who had also worked as her manager.
At the time, Panettiere said she believed she had left much of the negativity in her life behind.
“I feel like I have a lot more life to live,” she said.
Her memoir, published May 19, also described a relationship involving domestic violence. Panettiere wrote about repeated incidents with a man referred to in the book as “Brian,” including physical assaults and arrests.
Brian Hickerson, who had been in a relationship with Panettiere, later acknowledged to TMZ that he had physically assaulted her and had been arrested after a 2020 incident.
Motherhood was another significant part of Panettiere’s life. She gave birth to her daughter, Kaya, in December 2014. She later spoke about experiencing postpartum depression and about the decision for Kaya to live with her father, former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in Ukraine.
During her career, Panettiere often discussed the gap between the public persona audiences saw and the private difficulties she experienced. Her final months continued that pattern, as the performer who had been famous since childhood publicly confronted experiences and consequences she had spent years discussing.
Her death has renewed attention on her career as well as the challenges she detailed in her memoir and interviews.
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