Panettiere was pronounced dead at a South Carolina apartment Sunday, August 16. A cause of death has not been revealed, but an autopsy showed no signs of trauma. Toxicology reports are pending and could take up to 12 weeks, according to the Greenville County Coroner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
A newly released incident report states that the 911 call was made by Brian Hickerson, 37, who is referred to as Panettiere\u2019s boyfriend. He eportedly turned over a \u201cbag of medication\u201d belonging to Panettiere to the police, but the contents of that bag has so far been redacted. His brother Zach Hickerson was also present on the scene. The Independent has approached police for further information.<\/p>\n
The actor\u2019s father, Skip, confirmed Panettiere\u2019s death in a heartbreaking statement to ABC News. Panettiere\u2019s ex-fiance, Wladimir Klitschko said he was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the news but vowed to make sure the couple\u2019s daughter, Kaya, \u201cremembers the person\u201d Panettiere was.<\/p>\n
Dozens of Panettiere\u2019s co-stars including Heroes actor Masi Oka, Nashville co-star Connie Britton, Tim Allen, Viola Davis and Melissa Barrera have offered heartfelt tributes<\/a> to the two-time Golden Globe nominee on social media. <\/p>\n Among her most memorable roles were Sheryl Yoast in the 2000 Denzel Washington-led film Remember the Titans, high school cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC\u2019s sci-fi drama Heroes (2006-2010), and aspiring country singer Juliette Barnes on the hit TV series Nashville (2012-2018).<\/p>\n Her New York Times bestselling memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, was published in May this year, in which she looked back at her childhood in Hollywood<\/a> and her experiences with addiction, postpartum depression<\/a>, abusive relationships, and the loss of custody of her daughter, Kaya,<\/a> whom she shares with former heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko.<\/p>\n Hayden Panettiere dead: Heroes and Nashville star dies aged 36<\/p>\n Hayden Panettiere, best known for her roles in Heroes, Nashville, and the Scream franchise, has died aged 36.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,\u201d Panettiere\u2019s father, Skip said in a statement to ABC News. \u201cShe was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her \u2014 and to the millions who watched her onscreen.\u201d<\/p>\n No cause of death was announced.<\/p>\n Shahana Yasmin17 August 2026 05:06<\/p>\n Wladimir Klitschko breaks silence over ex-fianc\u00e9e’s death<\/p>\n In an Instagram post, Wladimir Klitschko wrote: \u201cOur family is going through a time of profound shock and grief.<\/p>\n \u201cThe announcement of Hayden\u2019s tragic death saddens me deeply. She left this world far too soon. Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya.<\/p>\n \u201cShe built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry. Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives.<\/p>\n \u201cTo our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.<\/p>\n \u201cI extend my deepest condolences to Hayden\u2019s parents, her friends, and her fans, who are also grieving today. Young and talented people like Hayden should not leave this world so soon.<\/p>\n \u201cI ask everyone to please respect our family\u2019s feelings and privacy during this incredibly difficult time. For now, this is all I wish to say.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you to everyone who is supporting my family and expressing their sincere condolences.<\/p>\n \u201cRest easy, Hayden. May you find eternal peace. #WeLoveYouHayden\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Read more<\/p>\n Caitlin Hornik18 August 2026 14:44<\/p>\n <\/a>Hayden Panettiere was a passionate advocate of Ukraine<\/p>\n Panettiere\u2019s daughter moved to Ukraine to live with her father, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in 2018, when Russia had illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and separatist forces were fighting Ukrainian troops in the Donbas region.<\/p>\n When Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, Klitschko, whose brother Vitalii is the mayor of Kyiv and also a former boxing champion, enlisted in the army. Kaya, the outlet reported, was not in Ukraine from the early days of the war.<\/p>\n Panettiere posted repeated messages of solidarity with Ukraine on Instagram in the years that followed.<\/p>\n \u201cI have personally witnessed the strength of the Ukrainian people who fought so hard for their independence and have continued to passionately defend their country over the years. What Putin is doing is an absolute disgrace!,\u201d she wrote on Instagram shortly after the invasion.<\/p>\n \u201cThis horrific moment in history sends a terrifying message: the message that in this day and age, in year 2022, it\u2019s okay to violate the rights of free people and allow autocrats like Putin to take whatever they please,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Jacob Stolworthy19 August 2026 12:02<\/p>\n <\/a>Hayden Panettiere’s tragic quest to outrun her child stardom<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that Hollywood has created a market that urgently needs abolishing, says Claire Cohen.<\/p>\n Jacob Stolworthy19 August 2026 11:20<\/p>\n <\/a>Hayden Panettiere’s history wth on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson<\/p>\n When Hayden Panettiere died on Sunday, the 36-year-old Heroes and Nashville star was in South Carolina with an on-and-off boyfriend she\u2019d once described as her \u201cabuser.\u201d<\/p>\n Here is what we know about Hickerson:<\/p>\n Jacob Stolworthy19 August 2026 11:05<\/p>\n <\/a>I interviewed Hayden Panettiere twice \u2013 and both times left me incredibly sad<\/p>\n The \u2018Heroes\u2019 and \u2018Nashville\u2019 star, who has died at the age of 36, was grief-stricken, traumatised, and \u2013 despite promoting a memoir she described as \u2018brutally honest\u2019 \u2013 seemed not entirely ready to discuss her very difficult past in the press.<\/p>\n Adam White19 August 2026 10:50<\/p>\n <\/a>Panettiere’s estranged mother speaks out about her daughter’s death<\/p>\n Lesley Vogel took aim at Panettiere\u2019s on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson in her first public comments since the death of her daughter, Hayden Panettiere, telling NBC News: <\/a>\u201cThis person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson.\u201d<\/p>\n Vogel, who was estranged from Panettiere at the time of her death, added: \u201cI think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry – it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it\u2019s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it becomes very difficult to be true to yourself, and I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different. I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.\u201d<\/p>\n She concluded: \u201cI just feel that she\u2019s with her brother and they\u2019re at peace.\u201d Panettiere\u2019s younger brother Jansen died unexpectedly in 2023 at the age of 28.<\/p>\n Panettiere\u2019s relationship with Vogel had become strained long before her death. In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, she wrote that the boundary between mother and manager had blurred as she grew up, leaving her feeling she had become \u201cthe confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child\u201d.<\/p>\n Jacob Stolworthy19 August 2026 10:25<\/p>\n <\/a>‘Ice Princess’ director remembers Panettiere and Michelle Trachtenberg<\/p>\n In a statement to Variety<\/a>, Fywell said: \u201cIt was really upsetting to hear yesterday of the death of Hayden Panettiere at the age of 36. I remember a brave, sparky, dedicated young actress who lit up the set in rehearsals and then the screen with her vibrant talent. Michelle Trachtenberg, Hayden\u2019s co-star in the movie, and she were an amazing pair.\u201d<\/p>\n Fywell added that the pair had \u201cvery different personalities.\u201d While Trachtenberg was \u201ckooky, fun, with an infectious laugh and her brilliant sad-funny comic timing,\u201d Panettiere was \u201cplucky and determined and perfectionist, spending hours practicing her skating and utterly focused on getting every acting take spot-on and truthful. Which she did.\u201d<\/p>\n Fywell concluded: \u201cIn what was often a tough and technically complicated shoot, and my first Hollywood movie, they were delightful to work with and great to have around. I remember them both with huge affection, how they were 20 odd years ago, at that relatively uncomplicated time of their lives, two shining talents, gone far too soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacob Stolworthy19 August 2026 10:00<\/p>\n <\/a>Hayden Panettiere: ‘I think a lot about what my life could have been like if I did that film’<\/p>\n A few years ago, during a conversation with her former agent, Hayden Panettiere discovered the truth about a situation that had always nagged at her. In 2000, when she was an 11-year-old child actor Panettiere was fired from David Fincher\u2019s home invasion thriller Panic Room after Nicole Kidman left the project, due to an injury. Or so she was told. <\/p>\n In fact, Fincher had wanted Panettiere to stay on with Jodie Foster, who was replacing Kidman. But he\u2019d asked her mother if Panettiere could cut her hair into a bob, in order to better match Foster. Panettiere\u2019s mother refused. <\/p>\n \u201cI was so out of the loop,\u201d Panettiere recalled in an interview with The Independent in May. \u201cAnd it was one of the harder things that I\u2019ve experienced. I didn\u2019t think it was fair. And I think a lot about what my life could have been like if I did that film. What parts could I have played? What person would I have been?\u201d <\/p>\n She met Panic Room\u2019s eventual child star, Kristen Stewart, at a friend\u2019s birthday party days before the interview. \u201cWe talked about everything that happened, and she was so kind. I felt like, finally, I was able to get it off my chest and let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam White19 August 2026 09:40<\/p>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787138049_128_2026-08-17T031938Z_1937106696_RC230NATJBN1_RTRMADP_3_PEOPLE-HAYDEN-PANETTIERE.JPG\")
Hayden Panettiere attends Jony And Marc’s (RED) Auction at Sotheby’s in New York (Reuters)Read more<\/p>\n(Getty)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hayden-Panettiere-and-Michelle-Trachtenberg-from-Ice-Princess-(2005).jpeg\")
(Walt Disney)<\/p>\n