Hayden Panettiere spoke of having “a lot more life to live” in a May podcast interview that has resurfaced after her death.
The ‘Nashville’ star, 36, sat down with Jay Shetty for his podcast in May to discuss her memoir ‘This Is Me: A Reckoning,’ which detailed her struggles with mental health, addiction, abuse, and loss. During the emotional conversation, Panettiere expressed a sense of renewal and hope about her future.
“I finally feel like I’ve shaken off all of this darkness and this negativity,” Panettiere told Shetty towards the end of the interview.
“And that means I’ve closed one door and another door is opened, and I can feel it opened.
“I can feel all the exciting possibilities. I feel like I have a lot more life to live,” she concluded.
Shetty responded with praise for her resilience, telling Panettiere, “I think you’re one of the toughest and most vulnerable and bravest people who have sat in that chair.
“And I really notice, and and acknowledge how much work you’ve had to do to even be sitting here right now to share your story with this much grace and courage.
“So thank you for trusting me and for being here,” Shetty continued, telling Panettiere he was ‘looking forward’ to people reading her book.
“I hope it reaches the people who really need it right now,” he said.
“I pray,” the 36-year-old responded. “I just wanted to help people. I want what I have gone through to have been for a reason. For everything to have happened for a reason. And for that reason to be to help people to go through whatever challenges their facing, and to know it’s possible. It can be done.”
Panettiere’s father, Skip Panettiere, announced her death in a statement to ABC News on Sunday. “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.
Her father then asked for privacy as the family ‘takes time to process this unimaginable loss.’
Shetty has since paid tribute to Panettiere following news of her death. Commenting on Variety’s Instagram post announcing the star’s death, the podcast host wrote: “I can’t believe it. Our friendship had just begun and I was so moved by the conversation we shared earlier this year. My love and condolences to her family and fans.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Panettiere opened up about the devastating loss of her brother Jansen, who died in 2023 due to complications with his heart.
“There’s nothing in my life that feels like losing my other half. He was born to be the yin to my yang,” she shared.
Panettiere said that the loss of her brother was ‘something she doesn’t think she’ll ever get over’.
“I feel him with me. I know that he’s protecting me from where he is and was needed elsewhere, but I wish he could be sent back to me,” the star emotionally told Shetty.
In the viral moment that preceded this renewed attention, Panettiere had been on a media tour promoting her memoir, which was released in May. The book detailed her years-long struggle with alcoholism, including a doctor’s warning that she would be “dead within five years” if she continued drinking. She described entering rehab for eight months in 2020 and experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms, including one incident where she heard voices so terrifying she crawled to her bathroom floor to wait out the panic. By the three-month mark of treatment, she wrote, she finally began to feel joy again: “Joy was a million times better than any drug.”
At a May 26 book signing and panel at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles, Panettiere reflected on how she hoped to be remembered. She recalled fans telling her that her openness about mental health had given them courage to seek help, with some saying she had saved their lives. “I was like, This is worth it. I can hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it,” she said. In a July interview with Momé magazine, she offered encouragement to other mothers facing challenges: “You’re stronger than you know. And you’re going to be just fine.”
Panettiere’s career began when she was just 11 months old, and she became a household name at 16 with her role as the cheerleader with healing powers on NBC’s ‘Heroes.’ She later starred in the musical drama ‘Nashville’ from 2012 to 2018. Her last film role was in ‘Sleepwalker,’ released in theaters in January.