Highlights
- Hayden Panettiere, best known for Heroes and Nashville, has died aged 36
- Her career began as a child and grew to include films such as Remember the Titans and Scream 4
- Away from the screen, Panettiere spoke openly about addiction, postpartum depression, trauma, domestic abuse and grief
Hayden Panettiere built a career around playing women who refused to break. As Claire Bennet in Heroes, she became television’s seemingly indestructible cheerleader, immortalised by the series’ famous “Save the cheerleader” storyline.
Away from the screen, however, Panettiere’s own life was far more complicated. The actress, who began working as a child, spent much of her adulthood navigating struggles that she later chose to discuss publicly.
Her representative confirmed her death at the age of 36 on August 17. Her father, Skip Panettiere, described her as “an incredible light and a force of nature” in a statement shared with ABC News. No further details surrounding her death were immediately available.
From child star to Heroes icon
Panettiere began her acting career as a child, building credits in both television and film before landing the role that would make her internationally recognised.
As Claire Bennet in Heroes, she played a high-school cheerleader with the ability to heal from almost any injury. The character became one of the show's defining figures and turned Panettiere into a major young star.
Her film work included Remember the Titans, Raising Helen and Ice Princess, before she appeared as Kirby Reed in Scream 4. She later reprised the role for the Scream franchise, returning in 2023.
Her other major television role came with Nashville, where she played country music star Juliette Barnes. The series gave Panettiere the opportunity to move beyond the teenage roles that had defined much of her early career.
The struggles behind the fame
Panettiere was candid about the difficulties that came with growing up in the public eye and dealing with personal struggles as an adult.
In a 2022 interview with Good Morning America, she spoke about alcoholism and postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in 2014.
“I didn't know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning,” she said, reflecting on how difficult that period had become.
She also described the years surrounding her time on Nashville as difficult and said she had reached a point where she needed a break.
Panettiere later addressed several of those experiences in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, published in May. The book offered an account of her life behind the celebrity image, including her experiences with postpartum depression, addiction and recovery, trauma, domestic abuse and loss.
A life shaped by loss
In recent years, Panettiere also spoke publicly about the death of her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died suddenly in February 2023 at the age of 28. His family said he died from cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart, coupled with aortic valve complications.
Panettiere was open about the lasting impact of his death. Speaking to People two years after his passing, she said she would “always be heartbroken” by the loss.
“I will never be able to get over it,” she said.
That openness became an important part of how Panettiere presented herself in her later years. The actress who had once been known primarily as the seemingly unbreakable Claire Bennet had increasingly allowed audiences to see the person behind the roles.
Panettiere is survived by her daughter, Kaya Klitschko, whom she had with her former fiancé, heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Her death comes less than a week before her 37th birthday on August 21.
