Celebrity5 min(s) read
Published 11:02 17 Aug 2026 GMT
Hayden Panettiere's final Instagram post before her sudden death at the age of 36 showed the actress enjoying an evening with a close friend and celebrating "good times and good friends".
Panettiere, best known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville, was remembered following her death as "an incredible light and a force of nature".
Her representatives announced the news on Sunday, saying: "It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden."
Her cause of death was not immediately disclosed.
Panettiere's final Instagram upload came around two weeks before her death and featured her alongside director and photographer Randall Slavin. The black-and-white photograph was captioned: "Good times and good friends @randallslavin ."
Following the news, Slavin shared the post to his Instagram Stories and paid tribute to his friend, writing: "Peace be with you, H."
The actress's final post has since been inundated with emotional messages from friends, fellow celebrities and fans.
Selma Blair, who had been close to Panettiere, wrote: "I love you. Don't be gone. Don't be gone. Please. Please."
Just 11 minutes later, Blair added: "I love you whale tail my friend."
She returned again shortly afterwards, writing: "I'm dying. Please be here."
At the time of the announcement, the circumstances surrounding Panettiere's death remained unclear. Law enforcement sources said police had responded to an incident involving the actress and that an investigation was continuing.
Her representative said: "There's an investigation ongoing. We should know more tomorrow."
Sources also claimed Panettiere had recently been experiencing back pain and had travelled south from Los Angeles with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson the day before she died.
Panettiere, who would have turned 37 on August 21, enjoyed a lengthy career in Hollywood and received multiple award nominations.
Her breakthrough came with Heroes, where she played cheerleader Claire Bennet, before she went on to star as country singer Juliette Barnes in Nashville. She also portrayed Kirby Reed in the Scream franchise and provided voices for video games including Until Dawn and Kingdom Hearts.
The actress had endured significant personal struggles throughout her life, including the death of her younger brother Jansen in February 2023. He died aged 28 from what his family described as "an enlarged heart".
Panettiere previously said losing her brother felt like she had "lost half of her soul". She also spoke about how the grief caused her body to "balloon out", leaving her in a "really bad" and "destructive" place.
Her death came only months after the release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which became a New York Times bestseller.
In the book, Panettiere detailed her experiences growing up famous, motherhood, and her issues with addiction. She said she had begun taking drugs at just 15, initially using what she called "happy pills" to appear more "peppy" during interviews.
Her substance abuse later intensified while she was dealing with postnatal depression following the birth of her daughter Kaya in 2014.
Panettiere had previously spoken about maintaining her sobriety, describing it as "an everyday battle".
"It's an everyday choice, and I'm checking in with myself all the time," she told People.
"But I'm just so grateful to be part of this world again, and I will never take it for granted again."
She also revealed that she had nearly died while giving birth to Kaya and subsequently made the difficult decision to relinquish custody of her daughter to her former partner, Ukrainian boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, in 2018 while struggling with postpartum depression.
Kaya now lives in Europe.
Discussing the decision more recently, Panettiere said she had "desperately" required help and rejected the idea that she had simply abandoned her daughter.
"The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn't be further from the truth," she claimed.
"I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and postpartum and having to act my way through it, and just feeling like I completely lost myself."
Panettiere also spoke publicly about her sexuality while promoting her memoir, revealing that she identifies as bisexual.
"It's sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?" she told Us Weekly in May.
"I've chosen to share it with the world, I'm comfortable saying I'm bisexual. I'm comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!"
She claimed that she had been attracted to women from a young age and had secretly dated women despite the intense attention surrounding her career.
"[I was] much more into women," she admitted.
"But, yeah, I have explored it, but I don't think I ever had the courage, because I hadn't shared this with anybody."
