What Hayden Panettiere Shared on Health, Addiction, Depression Before Death

In Heroes, Hayden Panettiere’s character Claire Bennet had the power of rapid healing. But in real life, the actress knew the journey was not that simple.   

“I never want to stop evolving and changing for the better, and I’ll forever be a work in progress,” she wrote in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, released this past May, “but 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.”

Panettiere died in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16, just days before her 37th birthday. After receiving a 911 call at around 1:51 p.m., first responders and emergency medical services arrived at a residence and found a female in cardiac arrest, according to a release from the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. While “EMS personnel initiated advanced cardiac life support measures,” the release continued, “resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the individual was pronounced deceased at 2:32 p.m.” The individual was later identified as Panettiere.

Afterwards, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office responded to the residence, which it noted was where Panettiere had been temporarily staying.

“An autopsy was completed today,” the coroner’s office added in its Aug. 17 statement. “At autopsy no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death. The cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies. This investigation remains active and ongoing.”