Watch: Hayden Panettiere Dead at 36
Hayden Panettiere made some special memories in the weeks before her death.
In fact, one month before the Nashville actress died at age 36, she seemed to be enjoying life with her inner circle, sharing what would become her final Instagram post on July 27.
“Good times and good friends,” Panettiere captioned a black-and-white photo of herself sticking her tongue out while posing alongside friend Randall Slavin, who had an arm draped around her in the snapshot.
At the time, Slavin commented, “Love this. Good times babe. Xxx.”
Now, it remains a bittersweet memory, as her family confirmed to multiple outlets on Aug. 16 that Panettiere has died at age 36.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” her father Skip Panettiere said in a statement to ABC News. “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.”
In the wake of her death, Slavin—a podcaster and photographer—re-shared her final social media post to his Instagram Story and wrote, “Peace be with you, H.”
Her cause of death has not been shared.
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A former child star, Panettiere was open about the challenges she faced throughout her career in the spotlight, including opioid addiction and postpartum depression after giving birth to her and ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko‘s daughter Kaya, now 11, in 2014.
“I was on top of the world and I ruined it,” she told People in 2022 of her addiction that began in her teens. “I’d think I hit rock bottom, but then there’s that trap door that opens.”
While she “couldn’t be messy while on set and working,” Panettiere explained that “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.”
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But she’s since learned ways to cope with her struggles, including her grief after the 2023 death of her brother Jansen Panettiere due to an undiagnosed heart condition.
As the Remember the Titans star shared ahead of the May release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, she had been prioritizing her mental health in recent years.
“I do have a great therapist, but always checking in with myself, being self-aware, being surrounded by healthy people who bring out the best in me,” she told E! News. “Just trying to keep in touch with myself and what’s going on, and then setting personal boundaries, not being a yes person all the time.”
Panettiere added, “I’m an empath, so if I make somebody feel uncomfortable or disappointed or upset, I feel it myself, so I don’t want to let anybody down. But now I’m putting up more personal boundaries.”
Read on for a closer look at her life in photos.
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