Hayden Panettiere, the star of television series such as Heroes and Nashville, has died. She was 36.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, announced her death in a statement to ABC News on Sunday.
“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,” it read.
Police were called to an address in Greenville, S.C., at about 1:50 p.m. Sunday, where Panettiere was found unresponsive in a reported cardiac arrest, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office told Global News.
Advanced cardiac life-saving measures were performed, but she was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:32 p.m., the coroner’s statement says.
An autopsy determined that there were no signs of foul play or trauma, it added.
“The cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies,” the statement concluded.
Panettiere, who was turning 37 on Friday, began acting at the age of four, appearing in soap operas and TV commercials.
Her role as a cheerleader with superpowers in Heroes propelled her to fame in 2006, with the series revolving around the mantra “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”
She went on to win three Teen Choice Awards for that role and was a Grammy Award nominee for a children’s spoken word album recorded a few years after the release of the animated movie A Bug’s Life. She later received two supporting actress nominations at the Golden Globes for her role as Juliette Barnes in Nashville.
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The actor, who published her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning in May, had spoken publicly about her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. He has had full custody of the child since 2018.
FILE: Hayden Panettiere and Vladimir Klitschko attend the Steiger Award 2011 at the Jahrhunderhalle on March 12, 2011, in Bochum, Germany.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
“I think there’s been this very common misconception that I just gave up my child,” she told podcaster Jay Shetty in an interview earlier this year. “That could not be farther from the truth.”
Panettiere said Klitschko suggested their daughter live with him full-time in Ukraine when the child was two, as she struggled with her mental health and addiction.
She told Shetty she was in a “horrible cycle for years of battling depression and anxiety and alcoholism and substance abuse” while “just trying to find my way back, my way out of the darkness.”
She checked herself into rehab in 2015, while filming Nashville.
In recent years, she had been in a tumultuous relationship with Brian Hickerson, with whom she split and reconciled several times.
Panettiere also appeared in two Scream films, starred in the 2000s films Ice Princess and Bring It On: All or Nothing and as the title character in the 2009 film I Love You Beth Cooper. She also played the young daughter of a football coach in Remember the Titans.
Her death prompted an outpouring of messages from former co-stars and industry organizations, including SAG-AFTRA, which wrote, “We join in mourning the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere. Starting as a child actor, Hayden’s long career in TV and film included memorable roles in ‘Heroes,’ ‘Nashville,’ and more. Our hearts are with her daughter, family, friends and fans.”
Kim Cattrall, who played Panettiere’s on-screen mother in Ice Princes, posted a photo on Instagram of her and the late actor from their time as co-stars, writing, “Rest in peace sweet Hayden. Gone far too soon.”
Panettiere’s younger brother, Jansen, who was also an actor, died of a heart condition in 2023 at age 28.
In her memoir, Panettiere described herself as an “optimist to the core” who refused to be defined by tragedy.
“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,” she wrote.
— with files from The Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
