Hayden Panettiere, best known for her role in Heroes, died aged 36 on August 16, her father confirmed in a statement. He said: "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 on screen."
Final podcast interview
Three months before her death, in May, the actress appeared on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast. She spoke about her more than three decades in the spotlight, including private battles that shaped her adulthood and the weight of living with trauma both privately and in the public eye.
During the conversation, she spoke emotionally about reaching a brighter chapter in her life. She said: "I finally feel like I have shaken off all of this darkness and this negativity. I've closed one door and another door is opened... I can feel all the exciting possibilities. I feel like I have a lot more life to live."
Grief for her brother
Towards the end of the interview, she wiped away tears as she spoke about her brother Jansen's death. Jansen was 28 when he died from aortic valve complications and an undiagnosed enlarged heart in 2023.
Speaking about her loss, she told the podcast host: "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, I mean, heartbreaking doesn't even begin to cover it." She added: "I would need a dictionary to go through all the words for all the feelings that go through your mind, but, I mean, I collapsed and it's stayed with me."
Family and legacy
She continued: "I know time is the best healer generally, but it's been three years and every year it's gotten... it's changed, the heartbreak has changed, but losing him and realising how much of life I was going to have to go through alone and without him, where I always saw him as being there..." She added: "The day that my parents are not here anymore, I'm going to have to do it alone."
Hayden also spoke about her daughter Kaya, born in December 2014 with former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. She said: "The fact that he's not here to be a part of my daughter's life and the fact that he's... there's so many times I want to call him, all the time, and he was my best, best, friend."
She grew more emotional as she recalled: "When he first died, I remember screaming, 'I don't want to live in a world where he doesn't exist'," before adding that "he seemed to alive" in her head still. Tributes have flooded in for the late actress following the announcement of her death.
