Actress Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive in a rented apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, and pronounced dead Sunday afternoon, with the cause of death still under investigation and dispatchers referencing a suspected overdose on the 911 call.
An acquaintance of Panettiere's called 911 at approximately 1:50 p.m. Sunday to report a cardiac arrest at an apartment complex. Paramedics initiated advanced cardiac life support, but resuscitation failed. The Greenville County Coroner's Office pronounced her dead at 2:32 p.m., NBC News reported.
Panettiere was 36 years old. She would have turned 37 on Friday, the Associated Press noted.
The coroner's office said an autopsy completed Monday found no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death. The Greenville Police Department said its preliminary investigation turned up no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. But the cause of death remains pending further investigation.
Breitbart reported that 911 audio captured a male dispatcher saying Panettiere had suffered a suspected overdose at the Greenville residence. Narcan, a nasal medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, was found in a mattress at the scene.
Panettiere had been temporarily staying at the apartment, the coroner's office confirmed. Just The News identified the location as the Judson Mill Lofts in Greenville, South Carolina.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, issued a statement Sunday night through her representative:
"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."
Panettiere began working in television at 11 months old, according to her Television Academy biography. By age 4, she appeared on the soap operas "One Life to Live" and "Guiding Light." She went on to voice a young princess ant in the animated film "A Bug's Life" and appeared in "Remember the Titans" and "Ice Princess."
Born and raised in Palisades, New York, about 40 miles north of New York City, she became a SAG-AFTRA member in 1994. The actors' union issued its own statement: "We join in mourning the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere. Our hearts are with her daughter, family, friends and fans."
Her breakout came as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the NBC sci-fi drama "Heroes," a role that made her one of the most recognizable young actresses in the country. She later starred as country singer Juliette Barnes on "Nashville," earning two Golden Globe nominations over the show's six-season run, which ended in 2018.
Hollywood has lost several young performers in recent months. Actress Daveigh Chase, the voice of Lilo in "Lilo & Stitch," died at 35, and the entertainment world has grappled with a string of early deaths that remind audiences how unforgiving the industry can be on the people inside it.
Panettiere also appeared in the 2010 Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove," which exposed dolphin slaughter in Japan, and in the 2011 horror sequel "Scream 4." She served as a spokesperson for the Whaleman Foundation, an oceanic conservation group, and the Humane Society awarded her its Genesis Wyler Award.
Panettiere's personal battles were not tabloid speculation. She detailed them in her own words. In a May appearance on the Jay Shetty Podcast, she spoke about the postpartum depression and addiction that reshaped her life after the birth of her daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
"That's why I turned to substances, because the anxiety that I started having, the panic attacks that I started having."
She described the spiral plainly:
"I was miserable. I was in tears all the time. Even though the alcohol helped my nervous system calm down, it is a depressant, so over time it made things worse, not better."
Fox News reported that Panettiere entered treatment for the first time in 2015, when Kaya was just 4 months old, and that she later developed a dependency on anti-anxiety medication. In her memoir, she wrote: "I'd walked into rehab addicted to one substance, and I'd walked out, completely dependent on something else."
In 2018, she gave up custody of Kaya to Klitschko and sold her Nashville home. On the podcast, she spoke about her daughter with a mixture of grief and hope:
"I will always want her here. I always miss her. I always want to have my arms wrapped around her, but that's just not the way life is right at this moment."
She added: "I have faith that she is going to come to me and that we're going to have an incredible relationship and bond and friendship that a lot of parents don't get to have with their kids."
The entertainment industry has seen a painful pattern of young performers dying before their time. Former Nickelodeon cast member Christy Knowings died at 46 earlier this year, another reminder that fame offers no protection from fragility.
Panettiere's younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died unexpectedly of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2023. In a 2024 interview with NBC's TODAY show, she described the loss:
"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."
Her memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning," was published in May 2026, just months before her death. In it, she reflected on growing up in the public eye. "Even though I felt I could make healthy decisions, safe decisions [at that age], I wasn't capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me," she wrote.
One passage now reads as an unintended epitaph. The AP quoted her writing: "One thing I know from my 36 years in the public eye is this: Life is a process that evolves day by day, year by year and, like it or not, you are engaged in a cycle of growth until the moment you take your last breath."
Oscar-winning actress Brenda Fricker also died recently at 81, closing out a generation of performers whose work defined entire decades of film.
Tributes arrived from across the industry. Connie Britton, Panettiere's co-star on "Nashville," posted photos from the set on Instagram with a caption that read:
"This was Hayden. Bursting with brilliance, shining so bright. I have no words for this sad song. Just heartbreak. I love you girl. Sleep easy now."
Viola Davis, who starred alongside Panettiere in the 2016 film "Custody," wrote on Instagram: "I wish the world had more time with you because I had a burning curiosity about who you were becoming. I saw this beautiful Phoenix rising from the ashes."
Matt Lanter, who played a boyfriend of Panettiere's characters in both "Heroes" and ABC's "Commander in Chief," said they "always had a great time on set and tons of laughs." He called her death a loss that came "just too young."
Emma Roberts, who appeared with Panettiere in "Scream 4," called her "so loved" and said she would be "forever missed." Brit Shaw, who guest-starred on "Nashville," called the death a "shock" and recalled Panettiere's warmth on set: "From the moment I walked onto the Nashville set, she made me feel like I belonged."
Kelly Osbourne wrote on her Instagram Story that she was "deeply saddened by the loss of someone who meant so much to me." She added a line that spoke to the particular burden of child stardom: "We understood each other in a way few truly can, recognizing how difficult it is to grow up in the spotlight, and how isolating it can feel even when surrounded by so many people."
Singer-songwriter Glen Hansard was also recently lost to a motorcycle crash at 56, another talent whose life ended far too soon.
Paul Strauss, one of Washington, D.C.'s nonvoting Senate representatives, said he was "devastated" and praised Panettiere's advocacy work: "Her advocacy to protect whales, and for DC Statehood were just some of the worthy causes she generously donated her time and energy to."
Hayden Panettiere spent 35 of her 36 years in front of a camera. She told the public the truth about what it cost her. Whether anyone with the power to help was listening is a question her death leaves unanswered.
