Hayden Panettiere’s final Instagram post has taken on heartbreaking new meaning after her sudden death at 36.
The “Heroes” actress, 36, shared a playful black-and-white photo on July 27 showing her winking and sticking her tongue out alongside photographer Randall Slavin. Slavin, whose arm was wrapped around Panettiere as hers rested on his shoulders, posted the same image to his own account. “Good times and good friends @randallslavin ✨,” she captioned the snap, which now stands as her last public message.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, announced her death in a statement Sunday night. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said. “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 asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
A cause of death has not been revealed. Reports said that law enforcement sources confirmed police responded to an incident involving Panettiere on Sunday and that an open investigation is underway. The outlet also noted that a source close to the actress said she had been complaining about back pain during the past year.
Panettiere and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson had boarded a flight out of Los Angeles on Saturday sources. Hickerson’s family is said to be aware of her death.
The New York-born actress, born in August 1989, began her career at just 11 months old with a Playskool Toy Train commercial. “My introduction to acting was actually at 11 months old,” she told Entertainment Tonight in 2023. “I don’t know if that would really be an introduction to acting, because I don’t think acting was involved at that point. I didn’t have lines, I was just playing.”
She broke through as Claire Bennet on NBC’s “Heroes” from 2006 to 2010, then earned further acclaim as Juliette Barnes on ABC’s “Nashville” from 2012 to 2018. She also appeared in “Scream 4” and returned for “Scream VI” in 2023.
Panettiere spoke openly about her struggles in recent years, including her battles with alcoholism and postpartum depression. In a 2022 interview with Good Morning America, she said, “I didn’t know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning. And I ran myself pretty ragged,” She added that the years following “Nashville” had “been difficult” and that she “just needed a break.”
In her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” released this May, she reflected on childhood fame, motherhood, mental health, domestic abuse, and loss. “I was fiercely protective of people in my writing,” she told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “I felt very strongly about my ability to tell my stories and make them entertaining enough to put in a book, without having to drag people through the mud,” She continued, “I just had to speak my truth — and it’s mine alone.”
Panettiere was also candid about the devastating impact of her younger brother Jansen’s death in February 2023 at age 28 from cardiomegaly coupled with aortic valve complications. In an interview with People two years after his death, she said, “I will always be heartbroken about it,” She added, “I will never be able to get over it. No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss.”
Panettiere leaves behind her 11-year-old daughter Kaya, whom she shared with former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko. She gave birth to Kaya in 2014 before relinquishing custody to Klitschko in 2018 amid her struggles. “I mean, it was the worst signing those [custody] papers, the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life,” she told Red Table Talk in September 2022. In a Fox News Digital interview last month, she explained her decision: “I knew how bad a place I was in. I hid it from my daughter as much as I could,” She added, “When I saw her in the environment over there and the support system that she had, I said to myself, ‘If I fight, if I go to war about this, it’s going to permanently damage my child.'”
In the viral moment that now defines her final public appearance, Panettiere’s July 27 post captured an unguarded moment of joy with a close friend — no farewell, no hint of struggle, just the simple celebration of “good times and good friends” that has resonated across social media since news of her death broke.
Klitschko has not yet spoken out about her death. Panettiere would have turned 37 on August 21.