Hayden Panettiere Dead at 36
Actress Hayden Panettiere has died suddenly.
The 36-year-old Nashville and Heroes actress’s cause of death is unclear as of press time. Panettiere’s representative broke the news via a statement to media including ABC7 in Los Angeles.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” the statement read. “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.”
TMZ, the controversial but typically spot-on celebrity news outlet, notes that police responded to a situation involving Panettiere on Sunday. The report, unattributed to any individual writer, does not specify where the police response was or the nature of the situation.
The Fox Corp.-backed outlet also added that Panettiere and her on-and-off again boyfriend Brian Hickerson flew to an unspecified Southern location on Saturday. Hickerson’s status is unavailable as of press time.
Panettiere became a television icon in 2006 by playing Claire Bennett (a.k.a. “The Cheerleader”) in the NBC sci-fi hit Heroes. In 2012, she would go on the land her most fruitful role in 2012: Nashville’s Juliette Barnes. She led the hit ABC/CMT country music drama across six seasons.
In the movie world, she made her name early, voicing the little sister character in A Bug’s Life and going on to play daughter of coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton) in the iconic football movie Remember the Titans. From there, she landed a role in the iconic slasher franchise Scream, appearing in Scream IV and Scream VI.
In video games, she was a voice actor in the Kingdom Hearts games, portraying the characters Kairi and Xion.
Other notable projects in her filmography include Bring It On: All or Nothing, One Life to Live, Malcolm in the Middle, Guiding Light, Racing Stripes, Ice Princess and I Love You, Beth Cooper.
She recently penned the memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning. Its May release saw Panettiere return to the spotlight after years of issues in her personal life, including substance abuse issues, mental health issues and giving up custody of her daughter. Hickerson also served jail time for domestic violence incidents in their relationship.
We will provide further updates here at PopCulture.com, as well as sister site Suggest.com, as we learn them.
