Actor Hayden Panettiere has died, her father said in a statement Sunday night. She was 36.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,\u201d her father said in a statement provided by the actor\u2019s representative.<\/p>\n
The cause and manner of death were not provided. Her publicist, Kasey Kitchen, said Panettiere\u2019s death was being investigated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an investigation ongoing,\u201d Kitchen said in a statement. \u201cWe should know more tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Panettiere revealed this year that\u00a0she struggled with postpartum depression and addiction<\/a>, which she said led to her decision to give up custody of her only child, daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, in 2018, whom she had with former partner and Ukrainian professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko.<\/p>\n Panettiere recently published a memoir, \u201cThis is Me: A Reckoning,\u201d which generated headlines over its revelations, including about her past relationships.<\/p>\n In 2024,\u00a0she described pain and grief\u00a0<\/a>after her younger brother died unexpectedly of an undiagnosed heart condition the previous year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you lose somebody that that you saw in all the important moments in your life, standing right next to you, it just rocks your world,\u201d she told the \u201cTODAY\u201d show.<\/p>\n The actor was born and raised in Palisades, New York, about 40 miles north of New York City, according to her Television Academy bio.<\/p>\n Panettiere started working at 11 months old, when she appeared in television commercials, according to her Television Academy bio.<\/p>\n She appeared on soap operas<\/a>, including \u201cOne Life to Live\u201d and \u201cGuiding Light,\u201d beginning at age 4. Her voice was featured on \u201cA Bug\u2019s Life,\u201d the animated feature, and she eventually appeared in big-screen stories<\/a>, including \u201cRemember the Titans,\u201d and \u201cBring it On: All or Nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n One of her most impactful roles was as Juliette Barnes on television\u2019s \u201cNashville.\u201d Before that, she was Claire Bennet on the 2000s show \u201cHeroes.\u201d<\/p>\n Her time shooting \u201cNashville\u201d included the pressure of having had a baby and experiencing postpartum depression, she said, and at times it was too much.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I turned to substances \u2014 because the anxiety that I started having, the panic attacks that I started having,\u201d she said in a tearful interview on the\u00a0Jay Shetty Podcast<\/a>\u00a0in May.<\/p>\n Panettiere said she always wanted to be a mother but discussed her sadness amid her postpartum depression battle.<\/p>\n \u201cI had this beautiful plan in my head, and then I had my daughter and I knew something was just terribly, terribly wrong,\u201d she said on the podcast. \u201cI was miserable. I was in tears all the time. Even though the alcohol helped my nervous system calm down, it is a depressant, so over time it made things worse, not better.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHayden Panettiere is setting the record straight.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Despite being apart from her daughter after giving up custody to Klitschko, Panettiere told Shetty, she formed a strong bond with her child.<\/p>\n \u201cI will always want her here. I always miss her,\u201d she said. \u201cI always want to have my arms wrapped around her, but that\u2019s just not the way life is right at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cI have faith that she is going to come to me and that we\u2019re going to have an incredible relationship and bond and friendship that a lot of parents don\u2019t get to have with their kids.\u201d<\/p>\n