Hayden Panettiere said she would ‘always be heartbroken’ about her brother’s sudden death

Hayden Panettiere's family has sadly experienced a lot of loss and grief over the last four years.

The star's death was confirmed last night, Sunday August 16, by her proud father, Skip.

He told ABC News: “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,”

"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.”

Hayden was just 36-years-old.

Tragically, Hayden's younger sibling, Jansen, died in February 2023 aged 28, and Hayden had spoken out about her grief and the loss of her little brother.

Jansen had also been a child actor, and his loved ones were stunned when he died unexpectedly from aortic valve complications and an undiagnosed enlarged heart.

Heroes star Hayden told People magazine about how the loss of her brother impacted her, revealing she had gained nearly 40 pounds from the stress and grief.

“It didn’t matter what I did, what I ate. I know stress and cortisol running through your body can do that,” she recalled.

“Now I think my body was protecting itself, shielding itself from the world.”

She sadly added: “When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul… I will always be heartbroken about [him], I will never be able to get over it."

"No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss," she confessed.

In February 2025, she paid tribute to him to mark two years since he passed.

“2 years ago today, I lost my little brother, this amazing human being touched the lives of so many. Especially mine," she wrote.

The Instagram caption continued: "The pain isn’t quantifiable. I pray you’re in a beautiful place J. That you’re at peace and that when all is said and done…I’ll see you again. Rest easy brother. You are so missed and beyond loved."

Later that year, on what would have been his 31st birthday, she wrote: “My little brother Jansen would’ve turned 31 today. He was a remarkable human being."

"He was wise beyond his years and operated at a higher spiritual level than anyone I’ve ever met. He was everything that is good and pure in this world,” she continued.

“I miss him every single day but I know his spirit is always near, watching over and protecting me and my family. I love you to infinity and beyond J and we will be together again one day.”

Police have since released a statement after Hayden's death.

Greenville Police Department said: "[Officers] accompanied by EMS personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female at around 1.50 pm Sunday.

"Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene.

"The case is under investigation by the Greenville Police Department in conjunction with the Greenville County Coroner's Office.”

“The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. An acquaintance of Ms. Panettiere placed the 911 call.”

A timeline of Hayden Panettiere’s troubled Hollywood career

August 1989

Hayden Panettiere is born to firefighter Skip Panettiere and Lesley Vogel, who would go on to be Hayden’s manager.

1990

Panettiere appears in a commercial at 11 months old, later landing recurring roles in soap operas as a child actor.

2004/2005

Aged 15, Panettiere said someone on her team started offering her ‘happy pills’. She later tells People: “They were to make me peppy during interviews.

"I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”

2006

Aged 17, Panettiere lands one of the defining roles of her career as Claire Bennett in Heroes.

2007-2009

Panettiere later reveals several disturbing incidents that happened during this period in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.

Aged 18, she claims she was led onto a yacht by ‘somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector’ and placed into bed next to an ‘undressed man who was very famous’.

In 2008, she alleged a network executive kissed her on the lips at a party.

Aged 19, she said a ‘well-respected, award-winning actor’ tricked her into looking at his testicles through an unzipped fly.

In 2007, she also starts dating Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia - she is 18 and he is 30. They split in 2009.

2009

Panettiere starts dating Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

Meanwhile, her father Skip is handed two years of informal probation after pleading ‘no contest’ to spousal battery.

2013

Panettiere and Klitschko get engaged.

December 2014

Panettiere and Klitschko’s daughter Kaya is born. Panettiere endures an incredibly difficult pregnancy, haemorrhaging during her c-section and being forced to undergo a three-hour surgery.

2015

Panettiere begins suffering severe post-partum depression. She later tells Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast: “I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong. I wasn't connecting with [Kaya] the way I should be.”

She uses alcohol to manage her mental health struggles and enters treatment when Kaya is four months old.

She later says she became dependent on medication to sleep, and then turned to drinking vodka.

2018

Klitschko presents Panettiere with custody papers asking for full custody of Kaya. After initially fighting back, she eventually accepts and Kaya goes to live with Klitschko in Ukraine.

She writes in her memoir: “Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life”

Meanwhile, her long-running role in TV show Nashville comes to an end and she doesn’t have any more TV or film roles for five years.

In the same year, she starts dating actor Brian Hickerson.

2020

Panettiere spends an eight month stint in rehab.

She experiences brutal alcohol withdrawal symptoms including insomnia and intense headaches.

Meanwhile, her now-ex Hickerson is charged with felony assault.

2021

Hickerson pleads no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse/cohabitant/girlfriend/child's parent and is sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years probation.

2023

Panettiere returns to acting, reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.

In the same year, her brother Jansen dies aged 28 from an enlarged heart.

May 2026

Panettiere releases her memoir in which she makes disturbing allegations against film stars and industry execs from when she was a teenager.

She also opens up on her experience of postpartum depression and comes out as bisexual.

August 2026

Panettiere tragically dies. Police say: “The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”