Actress, Hayden Panettiere, who is best known for her roles on shows such as Heroes, Nashville, and Remember The Titans, has died according to a statement from her father. She was 36 years old.
The statement to ABC News read:
“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. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
According to TMZ, she was found dead by a “friend inside a South Carolina home on Sunday afternoon. Emergency Medical Service workers responded to a call of a person in ‘cardiac arrest’ and an ‘unresponsive female.'” EMS worked to try and resuscitate her, however she was pronounced dead at the scene. Police suspect no foul play, however, the tragic death is under investigation.
Brian Hickerson, Panettiere’s “on and off” boyfriend from 2018 to 2022 reportedly flew from Los Angeles to South Carolina on Saturday and they spent time together. Hickerson was arrested multiple times during the course of their relationship, and in 2021, he was sentenced to 45 days in prison for domestic violence. They were also seen together back in March of this year. Panettiere was also reportedly suffering from back problems and pinched nerves.
Many of us watched Hayden grow up on screen with childhood roles as Princess Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, and playing the football-obsessed coach’s daughter, Sheryl Yoast, in the absolute classic Remember the Titans. I still say the phrase “getting beat like stole something” when I’m watching football.
Her breakout role came in 2006 with the cultural phenomenon that was Heroes. As Claire Bennet, Panettiere became the face of late-2000s pop culture overnight. She went on to solidify her status as a fan-favorite in the horror world too, playing the iconic, quick-witted Kirby Reed in the Scream franchise. However, for country music fans, she will always be remembered as the fiery, complicated, and immensely talented country music superstar Juliette Barnes on Nashville. When she took on the role of Juliette in 2012, she proved she was more than just a great actress… she had the vocal chops to back it up. Panettiere actually charted 11 different tracks on the Billboard Hot Country Songs list during her run on the show. She earned two Golden Globe nominations and gave country music fans one of the most compelling, messy, and fiercely independent characters to ever hit primetime TV.
She also starred in Raising Helen, I Love You, Beth Cooper, Guiding Light, Ally McBeal and more.
More recently, she opened up about her struggles off-camera. While never getting married, she shared one child with then-world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko. She battled severe postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, and talked about it publicly helping to erase the stigma for mothers everywhere going through the exact same thing. She was honest about her battles with substance addiction and the dark side of growing up in the spotlight, laying her entire journey out in her deeply personal memoir released this year, This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Rest in peace, Hayden.
