{"id":746039,"date":"2026-08-22T09:52:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T09:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/746039\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T09:52:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T09:52:23","slug":"hayden-panettiere-death-on-off-boyfriends-brother-shares-how-they-found-star-unconscious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/746039\/","title":{"rendered":"Hayden Panettiere death: On-off boyfriend\u2019s brother shares how they found star unconscious"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The brother of Hayden Panettiere\u2019s on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson <\/a>has spoken out days after the Nashville star\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Panettiere died August 16 <\/a>at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, aged 36. A cause of death<\/a> has not yet been revealed.<\/p>\n

Zach Hickerson, 38, spoke Friday on what would have been the Heroes star\u2019s 37th birthday<\/a>, sharing how he and Brian found Panettiere unconscious. He claimed that the trio had plans to get lunch and go indoor golfing Sunday before tragedy struck.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I left church I called and texted both of them. When I didn\u2019t reach Brian or Hayden, I just assumed maybe they fell back asleep so I drove over and went to the Airbnb. When I got there I knew the code to the building but not the door code to the AirBnb,\u201d Zach told TMZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knocked loudly which apparently woke Brian up from a nap they were both taking on the pull out couch bed in the living room. When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HaydenHayden Panettiere died Sunday at the age of 36 (2023 Invision)<\/p>\n

Zach also claimed to the outlet that \u201cBrian gave her Narcan,\u201d the medication commonly administered to offset an opioid overdose<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to a police incident report viewed by The Independent, Brian and Zach called 911 when they realized Panettiere was unconscious. Officers recorded that Zach was emotional as emergency services worked to save Panettiere\u2019s life, but that Brian only became emotional after she was officially declared dead. The report also stated that Brian turned over a \u201cbag of medication\u201d belonging to Panettiere to investigators. The names of the medications were redacted.<\/p>\n

A cause of death has not been revealed, but an autopsy showed no signs of trauma. <\/p>\n

Panettiere\u2019s death<\/a> is being investigated. <\/p>\n

One day after police reportedly began probing whether there could be criminal conduct behind Panettiere\u2019s death<\/a>, Brian broke his silence via his lawyer, saying, in part, \u201cit is important to allow that investigation to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n

That now reportedly involves the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, who joined the investigation into Panettiere\u2019s death on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the case who spoke to The New York Times. <\/p>\n

\"Panettiere\u2019sPanettiere\u2019s on-off boyfriend\u2019s brother has spoken out about her death (Getty)<\/p>\n

Panettiere\u2019s death was confirmed in a statement released by her father.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,\u201d Panettiere\u2019s father, Skip, said Sunday 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

Known for her roles in the 2000 film Remember the Titans, the 2006 NBC series Heroes, and the 2012 ABC series Nashville, Panettiere was also the face of skincare brand Neutrogena for a decade.<\/p>\n

After her death, Panettiere\u2019s comments from earlier this year that Neutrogena \u201cfired\u201d her in 2015 after she spoke about her postpartum depression resurfaced, prompting intense backlash against the brand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neutrogena issued a formal public apology<\/a> Thursday, acknowledging \u201cwe made her feel unsupported during a very difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PanettierePanettiere was the face of skincare brand Neutrogena for a decade (Neutrogena)<\/p>\n

Panettiere became a mother in December 2014, when she and former fianc\u00e9, Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, welcomed their daughter, Kaya. Panettiere later gave Klitschko full custody of Kaya in 2018 while she was struggling with addiction and postpartum depression<\/a>. <\/p>\n

She spoke about the decision again in 2022, telling Facebook Watch\u2019s Red Table Talk <\/a>podcast that signing the papers was \u201cthe most heartbreaking thing I\u2019ve ever had to do in my life.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Klitschko released a statement after Panettiere\u2019s death and another Friday to mark what would have been her 37th birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are loved, you are missed, and you will never be forgotten,\u201d he wrote in part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-746039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}