Hayden Panettiere was having a tough time on the set of her final movie.
Following the news of her death, Justin Chatwin spoke to People on Monday about working with the 36-year-old actress. The pair first met while she was on the hit show Heroes between 2006 and 2010, and they later reconnected to film the psychological thriller Sleepwalker in the winter of 2025. Watch the trailer for the film (below):
Related: Hayden’s Ex-Fiancé Wladimir Klitschko Breaks Silence On Her Death
While Justin “loved” working with Hayden, the Shameless star shared that he could tell she was “struggling” on set:
“Hayden seemed different when I met her this time than when I met her in the early years. I could tell she was struggling, and I was like, ‘I don’t think it’s this movie.’ There’s a handful of women that I’ve worked with that I really liked, and I really loved working with her, but I also know that she was really lonely.”
Heartbreaking.
In the movie, Hayden played a woman dealing with the loss of her daughter following a car accident. Justin portrayed her abusive husband. As you may know, domestic violence is a subject matter that “hit close to home” for the Nashville alum. Justin continued:
“We hit it off great, and it was an awesome shoot, but it was about domestic abuse, and it was subject matter that may have hit close to home, because she did mention it. She opened up to me about a lot of things.”
The actor, who is 15 years sober, said Hayden even opened up about her experience with going to rehab and the “struggles that she’s had with trauma” early on while making Sleepwalker, adding:
“I’m sure that everyone else is going to say, ‘Oh, she’s amazing. She’s such a sweet person on set,’ because she was. But we’re trained to be actors, so we’re acting on set, you know? And she is sweet. She had a beautiful heart. But we’re trained to be on, and I really liked spending time with her because she took that off, and she was authentic with me about her life and she opened up about her struggles with addiction. And who knows where it comes from? Does it come from Hollywood? Does it come from home? And a lot of times, it’s both.”
Well, we’re glad Justin could lend an ear to Hayden during her final months…
[Image via Brian To/MEGA/WENN]
