Actress Hayden Panettiere found dead at 36 in South Carolina

Hayden Panettiere, the actress known for roles in 'Heroes,' 'Nashville,' and 'Remember the Titans,' was found dead on August 16, 2026, at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, at the age of 36, according to the New York Post. Authorities have said there are no signs of foul play, and a cause of death has not been announced.

Panettiere began her career at 11 months old in a toy commercial, according to the Associated Press, and went on to voice Princess Dot in the 1998 Pixar film 'A Bug's Life' at age 9. She gained wider recognition for scene-stealing work opposite Denzel Washington in 'Remember the Titans' (2000) and later became widely known for her role as the indestructible Claire Bennet in the sci-fi series 'Heroes,' which ran from 2006 to 2010.

Her role as rising country star Juliette Barnes on the television series 'Nashville,' which aired from 2012 to 2018, was described by the AP as perhaps her defining role. She also appeared in 'Scream VI' in 2023, a film that, according to the AP, Panettiere advocated for her own return to and which became a major box office hit.

According to the New York Post, the day before her death Panettiere had flown from Los Angeles to South Carolina with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson. She was discovered by a friend at the Greenville residence.

In her 2026 memoir, 'This Is Me: A Reckoning,' published before her death, Panettiere wrote about the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in December 2014 — a child she shares with former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko. She described a 'traumatic' delivery involving 14 hours of labor, a three-hour surgery following a C-section, and seven blood transfusions, according to the New York Post.

In the memoir, Panettiere wrote that she initially 'felt nothing' when she first saw her newborn daughter, and described the challenge of bonding with Kaya as feeling like 'an insurmountable task.' She wrote that she turned to alcohol in the weeks after the birth, describing waking at 6 a.m. with thoughts only of drinking, according to the New York Post.

The New York Post reports that Panettiere entered a treatment facility for the first time when Kaya was four months old, describing it as a high-cost, one-on-one care facility. She later entered treatment a second time at a facility described as 'fancy' in Europe. During that period, 'Nashville' producers temporarily wrote her character out of the show and Neutrogena canceled her contract, according to the New York Post.

Panettiere wrote in her memoir that she left rehabilitation 'clean and sober' but said her postpartum depression remained unresolved, and that she later became dependent on prescription sleep medication provided during treatment. She wrote that she had 'walked into rehab addicted to one substance' and 'walked out completely dependent on something else,' according to the New York Post.

She is survived by her daughter, Kaya, who according to the New York Post has been living in Ukraine with her father since 2018. Her father, Skip Panettiere, said in a statement to Page Six: '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,' adding that the family requested privacy 'as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.'

• The cause of death has not been officially determined or disclosed.
• Brian Hickerson, who reportedly traveled with Panettiere to South Carolina the day before her death, is not quoted or described as having commented in any of the supplied sources.
• The identity of the friend who discovered Panettiere's body is not named in the sources.
• The full contents and conclusions of any official law enforcement investigation are not detailed in the sources.
• Wladimir Klitschko's response to the death is not included in any of the supplied sources.
• The current age or condition of Panettiere's daughter, Kaya, is not addressed in the sources beyond the statement that she has lived in Ukraine with her father since 2018.

1. New York Post — original — by Tamantha Ryan
2. Associated Press — by Lindsey Bahr

Read the original at New York Post

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