Hayden Panettiere, Star of Heroes and Scream, Dead at 36

Hayden Panettiere — star of Heroes, Scream, Nashville, and Remember the Titans — has died. She was 36. Her father confirmed the news to ABC. “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 onscreen,” he said. Panettiere went from child stardom to a more tumultuous adult life. She hit peak stardom in 2006 as Claire Bennett in Heroes, the titular cheerleader from the show’s catchphrase “Save the cheerleader, save the world.”

Born in 1989 in Palisades, New York, Panettiere’s first memory was of filming a Playskool commercial. In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere says child stardom taught her to correlate suffering with praise, as being able to cry on cue was a highly prized talent in kids. Her child roles include multiple Law & Order: Special Victims Unit characters, the Denzel Washington film Remember the Titans, and voicing Dot in A Bug’s Life.

In 2006, she broke out as Claire Bennett in Heroes. On that show, she met eventual boyfriend Milo Ventimiglia. “The press scrutiny around our age difference had been relentless, and Milo was such a private person that I knew it wore on him,” she wrote in her memoir of their breakup. Later, she dated and became engaged to Wladimir Klitschko — boxer and hero of Ukraine. They had a child together, Kaya, in 2014. Panettiere was candid about her postpartum depression and addiction issues in her memoir. She eventually gave up custody of Kaya to Klitschko in order to seek inpatient treatment, a decision she said cost her a spokesmodel gig with Neutrogena.

After Heroes, Panettiere starred on Nashville as troubled but talented Juliette Barnes. Panettiere wrote in her memoir that Nashville took things from her personal life and used it as plot fodder. She also starred in the Scream movies as film buff-turned-FBI agent Kirby Reed.

Her father asked for privacy for at this time, “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.” Panettiere’s brother, Jansen, died in 2023 of cardiomegaly.