Hayden Panettiere got her start in Hollywood at a young age, starring in commercials and soap operas before transitioning to the big screen. She’s also known for her starring work in TV dramas including a breakout starring role in Heroes and as the long-running star of musical drama Nashville.
Panettiere died on Sunday, August 16, at the age of 36. She was found unresponsive in cardiac arrest, and resuscitation efforts taken by emergency medical services were unsuccessful, according to officials.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” a statement from her father, Alan, 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.”
Additionally, several celebrities have paid tribute to the actor, including Viola Davis, Aly Michalka, Rosie O’Donnell, and David Arquette, praising her kindness and talent.
While her cause of death is still unknown, an autopsy on August 17 revealed no signs of trauma contributed to the actor’s death, according to ABC News. An investigation is ongoing.
The actor, who was open about her struggles with postpartum depression and struggles with addiction, was also an activist.
Panettiere was preceded in death by her younger brother, Jansen, with whom she had a strong bond. In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, she even called him a “little brother by chance and a best friend by choice.” Here’s everything to know about the relationship between Hayden and Jansen.
The Pair Were Both Child Actors
Hayden started modeling and acting in commercials at just 8 months old, and by age 5, she was acting in soap operas including One Life to Live. In 1998, she made the leap to the big screen, voicing Dot in Disney’s A Bug’s Life. At age 11, her breakout role happened when she famously starred as football-obsessed Sheryl Yoast, daughter of assistant coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton) in Remember the Titans.
Jansen followed in his older sister’s footsteps, scoring roles on TV shows including The Walking Dead and starring in movies including Nickelodeon’s The Last Day of Summer (2007). The pair acted together in Disney’s TV movie Tiger Cruise (2004).
“She gets me a little more noticed; she gets me in magazines. She gives me a kick-start. With The Last Day of Summer, they will notice me more because she is my sister,” he told TV Guide in 2007. “It is almost like you are looking in a book, and the bookmark is my sister and she is basically showing me, she is able to push me out there. She helps me tremendously.”
In the same interview, Hayden said of her brother, “He is a very balanced child. He has a heart of gold and would never wish bad on anyone. Sometimes I need to take a lesson from him.”
Both Explored Artistic Talents Outside of Acting
Outside of Hayden’s range of acting roles, she was also a talented singer. She was often featured in soundtracks of movies she starred in, including Ice Princess and Tiger Cruise, according to Rolling Stone.
Starring as Juliette Barnes, a teen country music sensation in the musical drama series Nashville (2012–2018), she often got to show off her singing voice on the show. Though she’s featured in many soundtracks, she never released an album.
Not to be outdone by his sister, Jansen found art to be his talent outside of acting. Bouts of depression and anxiety caused by his time in Hollywood led him to become a painter and work to “heal himself through painting his problems,” according to the Jansen Rane Panettiere Art Foundation.
Before he died, he was working on a painting for Hayden with hidden words. “I always see a few secret messages that maybe he meant to put there, maybe he didn’t,” she told The New York Times in 2023. “His art, that was the thing that made him happiest.”
Jansen’s Death Deeply Affected Hayden
In 2023, at just 28, Jansen died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition.
“He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him,” the Ice Princess actor told People in a 2024 cover story interview. “When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul.”
The loss of Jansen, who died just three and a half years before Hayden, would affect her profoundly for the rest of her life.
“I will always be heartbroken about it. I will never be able to get over it,” the Scream actor told People. “No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss.”
Hayden continued to pay tribute to her brother via social media posts marking milestones, like what would’ve been his 31st birthday. She captioned a
September 2025 Instagram post of the pair as children, “He was a remarkable human being. He was wise beyond his years and operated at a higher spiritual level than anyone I’ve ever met. He was everything that is good and pure in this world.”
Both Siblings Struggled With Their Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder
In May of this year, Hayden released her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, where she opened up about her life in the spotlight and the trauma and grief she endured off-camera.
Hayden opened up about her own struggles with postpartum depression and substance use disorder—things her Nashville character Juliette Barnes was also struggling with. In 2015, during filming of the TV series Nashville, she stayed at a treatment facility for depression.
She became addicted to alcohol and Klonopin, and she wrote in her memoir that a doctor told her she’d “be dead within five years” if she didn’t stop drinking.
In her book, she also opened up about the effects of her brother’s drug use, including crack and heroin, on the family. Before his death, she told her father that Jansen had been using drugs in an attempt to get him into treatment, she says in the memoir.
“For all his sensitivity, kindness, and pure, beautiful talent, my brother was manipulating us because drugs had a hold on him,” she wrote. “They were providing him an escape that only he could understand, and that meant it was up to him—and nobody else—to put an end to it. No one in my family wanted to believe it, but we had to.”
Hayden Dedicated Her Memoir to Her Brother
She also said writing about her brother’s death brought a lot of pain.
“It’s still a subject where I’m moments from bursting into tears any time I try to talk about it,” she told The Hollywood Reporter of writing about her brother’s death. “Time can be a great healer, but in this case, my grief just seems to evolve. It’s something I’ll never get over.”
The Bring It On: All or Nothing star ended her book with a tribute to her brother,
writing, “Thank you for being here, Jansen, I thought. Thank you for making me laugh, telling me never to take myself too seriously, and for being my best friend, always.”
Jordan Smith is a freelance writer, editor, and author with 10 years of experience reporting on health and fitness news and trends. She's also an ISSA certified running coach, and is passionate about making fitness accessible to all. You can find her work in publications including Runner's World, SELF, Prose, Vital Proteins, and more. The Philadelphia-based writer has yet to meet a workout class she doesn't like and can be found exploring the robust Philly food scene, hiking with her three dogs, and chronicling her attempt at tackling her endless TBR.
