Actress Hayden Panettiere, star of "Heroes" and "Nashville," dies at the age of 36

Actress Hayden Panettiere died at the age of 36, on Monday, according to what her representative confirmed, quoting a statement from her father that he sent to the Ofoq News network. “It is with great sadness that we announce the tragic death of our beloved daughter, Hayden,” her father, Skip Panettiere, said in a statement relayed by her representative to Ofoq News.

"She was an amazing light and indomitable force, bringing boundless love and joy to all who knew her, and to the millions who followed her on screen." The circumstances surrounding her death remain unknown, and ABC was first to report the news.

Panettiere is best known for her roles in the late 2000s television series “Heroes,” in which she played self-healing cheerleader Claire Bennet, and “Nashville,” where she portrayed young country music star Juliette Barnes. She also participated in the movie "Scream 4" in 2011 and played the role of Kirby Reed. She returned to participate in the sixth part of that horror series years later, and had prominent roles in films such as "I Love You Beth Cooper" and "Remember the Titans."

Panettiere has spoken openly about her struggles with addiction, and earlier this year she released a memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” in which she reflected on her life’s journey, in which she grew from a child star, to confronting postpartum depression, addiction, recovery and domestic violence. She told People magazine in 2022: “I felt a close connection to many of those stories, such as alcoholism and postpartum depression, as they were very close to my reality and my personal experiences.”

Panettiere also told the magazine that at one point she was hospitalized with jaundice, and doctors told her that her liver "would stop working." Panettiere has an 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, with her former partner, Wladimir Klitschko, a former Ukrainian professional boxer.

In 2022, she spoke during an episode of “Red Table Talk” about the “extremely painful” experience of giving up custody of her daughter to Klitschko. Panettiere previously said that she was suffering from drug abuse at the time of making that decision in 2018, and that the matter was not “up for discussion.”

“It was the hardest thing I've ever done,” she recalled. "But the best thing for my daughter is making sure she's okay, taking care of myself and making sure I can be a good mother to her," she added.

Panettiere also spoke about the loss of her brother, Jansen Panettiere - who worked as a famous voiceover commentator - who died in 2023 at the age of 28. “There has never been anything in my life quite like losing (my other half),” she said in an interview with Jay Shetty earlier this year.

"We were very close, and as the older sister - who has the responsibility to protect her brother and keep him safe - the inability to do so is beyond words, and 'heartbreaking' is not even enough to describe how I feel."