Panettiere, who began her acting career as a baby, had been candid about her struggles with postpartum depression and drug use.
The cause of death for actress Hayden Panettiere has been revealed to be cardiac arrest following a suspected drug overdose, reports NewsNation. The actress was 36 years old and leaves behind 11-year-old daughter Kaya who is in her father's custody and lives in Europe.
Panettiere, who began her acting career as a baby, had been candid about her struggles with postpartum depression and drug use. She voluntarily gave custody of her daughter to her former partner Wladimir Klitschko. She was found deceased in Greenville, South Carolina.
The young actress was best known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville and outpourings of grief followed the announcement of her death. In interviews, she spoke about being in 50 commercials as a young child, being cast on a soap opera when she was just 5 yearsold, and how frequently she was asked to cry on camera once directors realized she could cry on cue. Those emotions, she said, grew harder and harder to hold as the imagery she needed to conjure to cue those tears became darker and darker.
She had a difficult relationship with her mother, who served as her manager for many years. It was her mother, she said, who she was most interested in trying to please. "It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden," her father Skip Panettiere said.
Greenville police stated, "accompanied by EMS personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female" in the early afternoon on Saturday, about 1:50 pm. "Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene."
At the time, the case was under investigation. That investigation has now revealed that she suffered cardiac arrest. Her younger brother Jansen died in 2023 from an enlarged heart. This was incredibly difficult for Hayden, who spoke about the grief she was going through.
"When you lose somebody that you saw in all the important moments in your life, standing right next to you, it just rocks your world," she said following his death. Both children of the Panettiere family are now deceased. Hayden's birthday was just days away. She would have been 37.
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