“I was so proud of her for sharing the real Hayden, something that had to be excruciatingly painful for such a gentle soul,” she wrote.
Jefferies also referred to Panettiere’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died in February 2023 at age 28 from a heart condition. She said the family could take some comfort in imagining the siblings together again.
“I love you, sweet girl,” she concluded. “Always, in all ways. Love, Mama.”
What did Hayden Panettiere reveal in her memoir?
Published on May 19, 2026, This Is Me: A Reckoning covered child stardom, postpartum depression, addiction, recovery, trauma and domestic abuse. Hachette listed the book as a New York Times and USA Today bestseller.
The memoir offered context for a career that began when Panettiere was a child and later included major roles in Heroes, Nashville, Remember the Titans and Bring It On: All or Nothing. It also described the less marketable side of early fame: industry control, damaged identity and the expectation that a young performer should remain publicly functional while privately falling apart. Hollywood has long treated that arrangement as a business model rather than a warning sign.
Panettiere had spoken openly about addiction and seeking treatment. She relinquished custody of her daughter, Kaya, to former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in 2018 while focusing on her recovery.
Gayle King, who interviewed Panettiere months before her death, later said she believed the actress was “clearly still struggling.” That observation may add context, but it does not establish how Panettiere died.
What have police said about her death?
Police found Panettiere unresponsive in a Greenville, South Carolina, apartment shortly before 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 16, according to the Associated Press. Attempts to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.
The death remains under investigation. An autopsy found no signs of trauma that would have contributed to it, but officials have not released a cause.
Greenville County has said death investigations and toxicology testing commonly require six to eight weeks. Reports claiming an overdose caused cardiac arrest have not been confirmed by the coroner and conflict with the official position that the cause remains undetermined. That is where the evidence currently stops, however quickly online speculation would prefer to keep moving.
The Daily Beast, citing TMZ, reported that an acquaintance called 911 and identified the location as the Judson Mills Lofts. Early accounts described the property as an Airbnb, though authorities have only publicly referred to it as an apartment.
Panettiere reportedly traveled from Los Angeles to South Carolina the previous day with her on-again, off-again partner Brian Hickerson. Their relationship had resumed publicly after earlier domestic-abuse allegations, a period Panettiere discussed as part of her efforts to support other survivors.
How have her family and Nashville cast responded?
Wladimir Klitschko, Panettiere’s former fiancé and the father of their 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, described his “profound shock and pain.” He said Panettiere had confronted “the darkest sides of a very demanding industry” and promised that Kaya would remember her mother “with love.”
Kaya’s current residence has not been firmly established in public reporting. Panettiere told ABC News in 2022 that her daughter had been moved out of Ukraine and was safe.
Panettiere’s father, Alan “Skip” Panettiere, called his daughter “an incredible light and a force of nature.” Viola Davis wrote, “Your heart was too big for this world.”
Her Nashville colleagues also shared tributes:
- Connie Britton, who played country star Rayna James, remembered Panettiere as “bursting with brilliance, shining so bright.” She added, “I have no words for this sad song. Just heartbreak. I love you girl. Sleep easy now.”
- Sam Palladio said Panettiere was “generous, wise beyond [her] years” and someone who “lit up every room with [her] star.”
Those messages describe an actress remembered as warm, difficult, gifted and deeply vulnerable, sometimes all at once. Her memoir had only recently placed those contradictions in her own words. The official account of her death, meanwhile, remains unfinished.
