Hayden Panattiere of ‘Heroes’, ‘Nashville’, Gone at 36

Hayden Panettiere, who played the superpowered cheerleader on NBC’s Heroes and the rising country superstar on ABC’s Nashville, has died at the age of 36.

“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 to ABC. He has asked for privacy as her family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.

Panettiere died in Greenville, SC, and foul play is not suspected, according to police. Police dispatch audio obtained by TMZ reveals that a friend of Panettiere’s called 911 at around 1:50 pm last Sunday, reporting an “unresponsive female”. The paramedics on the audio were overheard discussing an “overdoes” and “cardiac arrest”. They attempted to rescuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

She had been in good spirits recently prior to her death. Her last social media post was roughly three weeks ago, on Instagram, where she was celebrating good times and good friends.

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Depression and Addiction

Panettiere’s struggles with depression and addiction were not a closely held secret. On antidepressants by 15, she got her role as Claire Bennet on the NBC superhero drama Heroes at 16, by which time she was drinking and taking the occasional opioid. Having not to be a mess on set was a saving grace, but as she had related in an interview with People Magazine, “…things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.”

The birth of her daughter Kaya in 2014 brought postpartum depression, which the actress was open about. She began drinking again and and her relationship with Kaya’s father, former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, ended. “He didn’t want to be around me,” she said. “I didn’t want to be around me. But with the opiates and alcohol I was doing anything to make me feel happy for a moment. Then I’d feel worse than I did before. I was in a cycle of self-destruction.” Still battling addiction, she sent her daughter to live with her father full time, believing that it was in Kaya’s best interests to do so.

A Life On Screen

Hayden Panattiere was born August 21, 1989, in Palisades, New York. As a child star, she appeared on commercials, and landed a four year role as Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live starting in 1994, Her big screen debut was as a voice actor, in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. Her first starring role was as the daughter of Bill Pullman’s character in Tiger Cruise on The Disney Channel.

In 2006 came the smash hit Heroes, where she played high school cheerleader Claire Bennet, a girl with nearly infinite regenerative powers. She soon played a cheerleader again, this time on the big screen in Chris Columbus’ 2009 film I Love You Beth Cooper. It bombed in the box office, but went on to earn its money back on cable services.

Panettiere landed the recurring role of Kirby Reed in three of the Scream films: Scream 4 (2011), its sequel Scream (which ditched the V for that installment in the series) (2022) and Scream VI (2023). Her character became one of the signature roles of the series.

Returning to television in 2012, Panettiere was cast in Nashville, playing rising country star Juliette Barnes, opposite Connie Britton as Rayna Jaymes. Much of the show’s drama centered on the rivalry between their two characters. Nashville ran six seasons, first on ABC and then CMT.

Hayden Panattiere’s brother Jensen died at 28 due to an enlarged heart coupled with aortic valve complications. In her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning earlier this year, Panettiere related that her brother had been snorting heron and smoking crack before he died.