‘Heroes’ Actress Hayden Panettiere Dead at 36: Report

Kathianne BonielloAug 16th, 2026, 11:31 pm
 
Hayden Panettiere

Hayden Panettiere attends the world premiere of “Scream VI” at AMC Lincoln Square on Monday, March 6, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

“Heroes” actress Hayden Panettiere has died, according to a report. She was 36.

The New York native’s father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death to ABC News in a statement Sunday night:

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.

Skip Panettiere requested privacy, according to ABC, “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”

No cause of death was given.

Panettiere had one daughter with her ex, Ukrainian professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko, and was open about her struggles with postpartum depression.

A child star, Panettiere told People magazine in 2022 that she was just 15 when her addiction issues began when her team gave her “happy pills” before she had to walk red carpets.

She gave birth to daughter Kaya in 2014.

Her pregnancy was written into her then role on the drama “Nashville” in which she played singer Juliette Barnes, a character who also dealt with postpartum depression.

“Like when I was dealing with postpartum depression the fact that I got to go out there and had to perform through it — it was terrifying, and very emotional,” she later told Entertainment Weekly. “There was a lot that I related to, sometimes a little bit too much. It hit really close to home.”

While Panettiere ultimately received treatment for her depression and later, drinking, her daughter eventually went to live in Ukraine with Kiltschko.

The actress recently released a memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, in May, in which she revealed she was bisexual and recounted her struggles with alcohol— including when a doctor predicted she’d be dead if she didn’t stop drinking.

The book includes other disturbing anecdotes, including an incident in which Panettiere claimed a woman she trusted put her in a dangerous spot.

Panettiere described the terrifying incident, which she said took place on a boat, on the Jay Shetty Podcast in May.

The woman, whom Panettiere didn’t identify, walked her to a bedroom on the boat and left her with a man, the actress said.

“She physically put me in the bed next to this, this undressed man who was very famous,” she said.
“This was just you know an average day for him and this is something that happens all the time. And I waited for her to leave. And I mean that, that lion in me, that fire in me, that that my my hair stood on on end and I became ferocious. I was like, ‘This is not happening,'” she recalled.
“But I had nowhere to hide. And I bolted and I hid wherever I could think of to hide on on a boat.
“There was no jumping off and swimming away. And there was nobody who was going to, I realized that there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation that this was nothing new to them,” she said.
“I mean, you know, that sounds — it’s such a horrifying event to go through and to be put in that position at 18 years old and disappointing when somebody lets you down like that.
“And I’d been let down so much before and that when you really find somebody that you trust, like you hold on to them for dear life and you feel so lucky. So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling.”

This is a breaking story and has been updated.

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