Hayden Panettiere has died at the age of 36. No official cause of death was given for the versatile actress and Golden Globe nominee. Emergency responders found her in cardiac arrest before she was pronounced dead at a home in South Carolina. Police say there was no evidence of foul play. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown remembers Panettiere’s life and career.
Amna Nawaz:
Hayden Panettiere has died. No official cause of death was given for the versatile actress and Golden Globe nominee. But multiple news outlets report that emergency responders found her in cardiac arrest before she was pronounced dead. Police say there was no evidence of foul play.
Our senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown has this remembrance.
Hayden Panettiere, Actress:
I’m just here to deliver a message. You’re in danger.
Jeffrey Brown:
Hayden Panettiere spent much of her life in front of the camera.
Hayden Panettiere:
OK. Show us what not to do.
Jeffrey Brown:
And it began in infancy with a baby commercial at all of 11 months.
Hayden Panettiere:
Why do you dress so weird?
Jeffrey Brown:
Her big film breakthrough came in 2000 opposite Denzel Washington as the football-obsessed daughter of a coach in “Remember the Titans.”
Hayden Panettiere:
You did a good job up here. You ran a tough camp, from what I can see.
Denzel Washington:
I’m very happy to have the approval of a 5-year-old.
Hayden Panettiere:
I’m 9.5, thank you very much.
Jeffrey Brown:
She later said the role helped form her approach to acting and a career.
Hayden Panettiere:
I felt like that really shaped me, really shaped my perspective of the industry, made me feel like now I know what kind of actor I want to be. I want to be generous and I want to be there for people, but this can also be fun.
Jeffrey Brown:
From there, wider fame came on the small screen, first on NBC’s “Heroes” as Claire Bennett, a teen cheerleader with extraordinary powers to heal, then in “Nashville” as Juliette Barnes, a rising country singer whose personal struggles play out alongside her career.
Panettiere also put her voice to work, including Princess Dot in Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” and in the video game “Kingdom Hearts.” But behind the scenes, she was dealing with her own struggles. After the birth of her daughter in 2014, she suffered from postpartum depression while also battling alcoholism.
Four years later, she would give up full custody of her child to the father, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. She spoke candidly in a “Good Morning America” interview in 2022.
Hayden Panettiere:
I didn’t have any negative feelings towards my child. I just knew I was deeply depressed and I didn’t know where the alcoholism was ending and postpartum was beginning.
Jeffrey Brown:
She went into more detail in a memoir released earlier this year, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” writing of addiction, depression, sexual harassment, and the pressures of growing up in Hollywood. And she spoke about it in a recent appearance on the “Jay Shetty Podcast.”
Hayden Panettiere:
I just wanted to help people. I want what I have gone through to be for a reason. I finally feel like I have shaken off all of this darkness and this negativity. And that means I have closed one door and another door is opened. And I can feel it opened. And I can feel all the possibility.
Jeffrey Brown:
Hayden Panettiere died yesterday in Greenville, South Carolina. She was 36 years old.
