Hayden Panettiere died after taking a single pill believed to be oxycodone laced with fentanyl, law enforcement sources said on Monday.
The actress, 36, appears to have met with her “long-term drug dealer” in Los Angeles before traveling to South Carolina, where she was found dead on Aug. 16, just days before her 37th birthday. Multiple sources connected to the investigation said she took only one pill that day, but the fentanyl contamination made it lethal.
Drug Enforcement Administration officials in both Los Angeles and South Carolina are now actively investigating the death. Authorities are said to be “zeroing in on a potential drug dealer” tied to the case, though no arrests have been announced.
Brian Hickerson, Panettiere’s abusive on-off ex-boyfriend, was with her on the flight to South Carolina and in the Greenville apartment where she died. He has already met with DEA officials, according to reports. It remains unknown what Hickerson disclosed to investigators, though he previously told police that Panettiere had a “bag of medication” with her.
The Greenville City Police report listed nine different types of drugs, though the specific names were redacted. Panettiere’s exact cause of death has not been officially released, with authorities warning that toxicology results could take up to 12 weeks to complete.
Panettiere had been remarkably open about her addiction struggles in her memoir, “This is Me: A Reckoning,” published just three months before her death. She traced her substance abuse back to age 15, when someone on her team offered her what she called “happy pills” before red carpet appearances.
“They were to make me peppy during interviews,” she said in 2022.
“I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”
Her problems escalated during her time on “Heroes,” which she joined at 16. She spoke candidly about how her off-set life deteriorated as she grew older, with drugs and alcohol becoming something she “almost couldn’t live without.”
After giving birth to daughter Kaya in 2014 with former heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, Panettiere developed severe postpartum depression and turned heavily to alcohol. The physical toll became impossible to ignore.
“Doctors told me my liver was going to give out,” she shared in her book.
“A doctor told me that if I didn’t stop drinking, I’d be dead within five years,” she revealed.
She developed jaundice, a condition causing yellowing of the skin and eyes from poor liver function, as her body broke down from years of abuse.
Despite these warnings and her public efforts at recovery, Panettiere’s final months ended in the same pattern that has claimed a growing number of American lives: a single pill, presumed safe, delivering a fatal dose of fentanyl. The synthetic opioid, roughly 50 times stronger than heroin, has increasingly contaminated the illicit drug supply.
Panettiere first rose to fame as a child actress before starring as the cheerleader with regenerative powers on NBC’s “Heroes” from 2006 to 2010. She later played country singer Juliette Barnes on ABC’s “Nashville” from 2012 to 2018, earning critical acclaim while privately battling the addiction she would eventually detail in print.
Her death has drawn renewed attention to the fentanyl crisis devastating communities across the country, including the Greenville neighborhood where she spent her final hours.
Courteney Cox, who starred alongside Panettiere in the “Scream” franchise, was among the colleagues who publicly remembered her after the news broke.
Hickerson, who has his own history of domestic violence charges related to Panettiere, faced scrutiny after giving an interview about her death that prosecutors later criticized him for appearing “high” during.
Panettiere’s memoir tour, which included personal appearances and book signings, had been a significant focus of her final months. Reports said that she had barred Hickerson from attending at least one signing event.
The DEA investigation continues as authorities work to trace the source of the fatal pill.