Hayden Panettiere, a child actress who soared to fame for her television roles on “Heroes” and “Nashville” and candidly spoke about struggles with addiction and depression, died on Sunday. She was 36.
Panettiere’s death was confirmed by her father, Skip Panettiere, in a statement shared with ABC News.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” Skip Panettiere said in a statement provided to ABC News. “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 County Coroner’s Office on Monday said Panettiere was found in cardiac arrest at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday afternoon. Lifesaving cardiac life support measures were performed, but Panettiere was pronounced dead at the scene.
No cause of death has been provided, and the investigation is “active and ongoing,” the statement said. An autopsy completed on Monday showed no signs of trauma.
The two-time Golden Globe nominee, who would have turned 37 on Friday, made her first onscreen appearance at 11 months old in a Playskool toy train commercial. In the years that followed, Panettiere landed roles in two daytime soap operas, “One Life to Live,” and later “Guiding Light.”
Panettiere earned her breakthrough role at 10 years old as the fiery assistant coach’s daughter in “Remember the Titans.”
She went on to play a high school cheerleader with supernatural powers on “Heroes” and later portrayed an ambitious, troubled country musician on “Nashville.”
During her lifelong career onscreen, Panettiere starred in several more films, including “Raising Helen,” “Ice Princess,” “Scream 4,″“Racing Stripes” and “Bring It On: All Or Nothing.”
Remarkably open about the toll of child stardom and life in the public eye, Panettiere released a memoir this spring, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” in which she recounts enduring domestic abuse, postpartum depression, the death of her brother, Jansen Panettiere, and addiction.
In 2013, Panettiere got engaged to heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, and she gave birth to their daughter, Kaya, in 2014. She suffered from postpartum depression and self-medicated with alcohol and opioids, which she says ultimately led her to give up custody of her daughter after she and Klitschko split in 2018.
“I didn’t know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning,” Panettiere said in a 2022 interview with “Good Morning America.” “And I ran myself pretty ragged.”
She left “Nashville” in 2015, during its fourth season, to receive treatment for depression. She returned several months later and remained on the series through its final season in 2018.
Panettiere said the years after “Nashville” ended had “been difficult.” She added, “The years before were very difficult for me, too. And I just needed a break.”
Despite her challenges, Panettiere described herself as an “optimist to the core” in her memoir, and refused to be defined by her tragedies.
“One thing I know from my 36 years in the public eye is this: Life is a process that evolves day by day, year by year and — like it or not — you are engaged in a cycle of growth until the moment you take your last breath,” she wrote.