Hayden Panettiere, the actor known for her roles in television shows such as Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of ۳۶.
Panettiere’s death was confirmed in a statement from her representative to the Guardian on Sunday night, after it was first reported on US network ABC News. No cause of death was given.
“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,” her father, Skip Panettiere, said in a statement.
He asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
Born in ۱۹۸۹, Panettiere was a child star who began acting at just ۱۱ months old, appearing in a toy commercial. She made her big screen debut as the voice of Dot in A Bug’s Life, aged just nine.
In ۲۰۰۰, she appeared in Remember the Titans. In ۲۰۰۴, Panettiere landed her first starring role as the daughter of Bill Pullman’s character in Tiger Cruise on the Disney Channel.
Panettiere rose to fame in her late teens as the invulnerable cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes, a series with the well-known, mysterious mantra: “Save the cheerleader, save the world.” The show was a global hit and ran for four seasons between ۲۰۰۶ and ۲۰۱۰.
Panettiere also earned two Golden Globe nominations for her performance as the troubled country music star Juliette Barnes on Nashville.
She also appeared as Kirby Reed in ۲۰۱۱’s Scream ۴ and ۲۰۲۳’s Scream ۶.
In ۲۰۱۴ she gave birth to her daughter, Kaya Klitschko, whom she had with her ex-fiancé, Ukrainian heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko. Panettiere gave full custody to Klitschko in ۲۰۱۸ in order to focus on recovering from postpartum depression and substance abuse.
“I didn’t know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning,” Panettiere said in a ۲۰۲۲ interview. “And I ran myself pretty ragged.”
She described her daughter as “just an amazing child. She’s smart and she’s funny and for whatever reason, she still loves me”
Earlier this year she published a memoir titled This is Me: A Reckoning, which touched on her struggles with fame, experience of postpartum depression, addiction and recovery. In the book Panettiere wrote about the troubling link she made between acting and love: “Directors, fans, and Mom praised me endlessly for my over-the-top dramatic responses. Subconsciously, I began to associate catastrophe with adoration; people loved me because make-believe bad things happened to me.”
Panettiere’s brother, Jansen, died suddenly in ۲۰۲۳ at the age of ۲۸ from cardiomegaly – an enlarged heart – coupled with aortic valve complications.
More details soon …
