Hayden Panettiere shared heartwarming final post weeks before death aged 36
Hayden Panettiere’s final Instagram post has been flooded with tributes from celebrities and fans alike following news that the 36-year-old had died.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” her father, Skip Panettiere, informed ABC News on Sunday (16 August).
"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.”
A statement from the Greenville Police Department said: "[Officers] accompanied by EMS personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female at around 1.50 pm Sunday.
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"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 statement continued: “The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. An acquaintance of Ms. Panettiere placed the 911 call.”
Officers added that the preliminary investigation has ‘not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances’.
Kasey Kitchen, a representative of Hayden, said an investigation is currently ongoing. “We should know more tomorrow,” she added.
Hayden Panettiere’s final Instagram post
The Bring It On: All or Nothing actress and former child star shared her final Instagram post on 27 July.
It featured director, podcaster and photographer Randall Slavin with his arm around her.
Hayden appeared to be winking at the camera while posing with her tongue out.
“Good times and good friends @randallslavin,” the mother-of-one captioned the black and white image.
Since the news of Panettiere's death, the photographer has reposted the photo to his own Instagram story, along with the caption: "Peace be with you, H," and a red heart emoji.
Her final post has drawn hundreds of comments from fans and celebrities alike, including Selma Blair, who wrote: “I’m dying. Please be here.”
“And I just started watching HEROS on @netflix for the first time,” typed Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey collaborator, Shaun Ross.
Influencer Gabrielle Egan said: “This one hurts BAD Just watched Bring It On with my daughter the other night and told her how iconic Hayden was… she was obsessed… RIP Sweet Girl.”
Jay Shetty, whom hosted Hayden on his On Purpose podcast earlier this year, has also shared his sentiments.
“I can’t believe it. Our friendship had just begun and I was so moved by the conversation we shared earlier this year. My love and condolences to her family and fans,” he said.
Losing brother was Hayden’s ‘biggest heartbreak’
The American used her On Purpose stint to discuss how losing her brother, Jansen, to heart complications at the age of 28 was her ‘biggest heartbreak’.
"There's nothing in my life that feels like losing my other half. He was born to be the yin to my yang,” she shared.
"We were so close. Especially being the older sibling, it's your job to protect them and keep them safe, and not being able to is, I mean, heartbreaking doesn't even begin to cover it.”
Hayden continued, claiming she would ‘need a dictionary’ to properly describe all the thoughts and feelings that went through her mind following her sibling’s death.
"There's been so many times I want to call him all the time. He was my best friend and when he first died I remember screaming, 'I don't want to live in a world where he doesn't exist'.”
Hayden Panettiere on ‘mini-me’ daughter
In one of her final interviews, the Scream favourite described her adoration for her 11-year-old child, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, whom she shared with her ex-fiancé, former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
The pair welcomed Kaya into the world in December 2014, with Klitschko later gaining full custody of her due to Hayden’s struggles with postpartum depression and addiction.
Speaking to Momé in her July cover, she said: "I love my daughter, and I'm so proud of the young woman she is becoming,” she informed the publication.
“I talk to her all the time, and I feel so connected to her. She's like a mini-me.”
When asked in the interview what made a ‘good mother’, she claimed: “A good mom is someone who loves their child unconditionally, puts them first, tries to live by example, and always lets them know that they're rooting for them — no matter what.
“Someone they can turn to in any season of their life, without judgment.”
A timeline of Hayden Panettiere’s Hollywood career
August 1989
Hayden Panettiere is born to firefighter Skip Panettiere and Lesley Vogel, the latter of whom would eventually become her manager
1990
The budding star appears in a commercial at 11 months old, later landing recurring roles in soap operas as a child actor.
2004/2005
Aged 15, she claimed someone on her team started offering her ‘happy pills’.
She told 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, Hayden lands one of the defining roles of her career as Claire Bennett in Heroes.
2007-2009
Hayden 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.
2022
Panettiere returns to acting, reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.
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.”
Topics: Entertainment, Celebrity, News, Instagram
Ella Scott