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Actor Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, a coroner in South Carolina said on Tuesday (US time).<\/p>\n
Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment<\/a> in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home.<\/p>\n According to a statement from the Greenville County Coroner\u2019s Office, a combination of fentanyl and its chemical byproduct, as well as the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, a muscle relaxer and a drug used to treat major depression and other serious mental health disorders, were found in Panettiere\u2019s system.<\/p>\n The office did not include further details from the autopsy report in its initial release.<\/p>\n Asked for comment on the coroner\u2019s report, Kasey Kitchen, a publicist for the family, told The Associated Press that \u201cthe investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex\u201d.<\/p>\n Greenville Police confirmed on Tuesday their investigation into Panettiere\u2019s death is continuing.<\/p>\n Related Article Paramedics responded to Panettiere\u2019s apartment last month after a 911 call and performed CPR and other advanced resuscitation efforts for more than 40 minutes before she was declared dead. An autopsy found no signs of trauma that could have contributed to her death, Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis said in a statement.<\/p>\n The police report released after her death listed medications Panettiere was taking, but the drug names were redacted.<\/p>\n Panettiere soared to fame in the TV shows Heroes and Nashville. In her memoir This Is Me, released in May, Panettiere described lifelong scars from her early fame and acknowledged being addicted to alcohol and enduring postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.<\/p>\n She also endured family struggles and tragedy. Her parents\u2019 marriage was strained and eventually ended. Her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who was also an actor, died of a heart condition in 2023, at age 28.<\/p>\n Panettiere also talked about her long relationship with Brian Hickerson and allegations that the aspiring actor physically abused her.<\/p>\n He was charged in 2020 with multiple counts of felony abuse, and he pleaded no contest to two counts of injuring a spouse or partner and served a short time in jail due to the case. He was sentenced to four years of probation and anger management and Alcoholics Anonymous sessions.<\/p>\n Hickerson completed the terms and recently asked a judge to reduce his conviction to misdemeanours; that request was denied.<\/p>\n Panettiere was one of two children born to Skip Panettiere, a former New York City fire captain, and Lesley Vogel, a former soap opera star. She acted in commercials and soap operas, including as the ever-troubled Lizzie Spaulding on Guiding Light. In This Is Me, she wrote that the traumas her character endured, from being kidnapped to killing her mother\u2019s boyfriend, led her to associate \u201ccatastrophe with adoration\u201d.<\/p>\n She then played a cheerleader with supernatural powers in Heroes, which propelled her to fame in 2006.<\/p>\n By 2015, Panettiere was playing a brash country upstart opposite Connie Britton on Nashville, which aired on ABC for four seasons before being cancelled and revived on CMT. She did her own singing in the show, which scored some hits on country charts, spawned US tours and earned Panettiere two supporting actress Golden Globe nominations.<\/p>\n But she also said she was in a horrible cycle of using alcohol and drugs to battle depression and anxiety and had to find a way out of the darkness. She entered rehab while filming the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI was the one who put myself in the first treatment centre. I was drowning,\u201d she said in a 2023 interview with Women\u2019s Health magazine.<\/p>\n AP<\/p>\n More Hayden Panettiere stories<\/p>\n Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5f9e4cba36d8eb26cc2a15fa738547c5f0143d02.jpeg\")
Hayden Panettiere, pictured at the world premiere of Scream VI in New York in 2023, died last month.AP Photo\/Evan Agostini<\/p>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790100976_169_32d9f255c260082cdbc46b54b40e038fa33254a0.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Panettiere](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/672f68fd852b1c04585921fa4cd0fcd10bf28449.jpeg\")
Panettiere rose to fame in the TV series Heroes, before landing roles in Nashville, Scream 4 and the Bring It On series.Getty<\/p>\n