Police have ruled out foul play in the death of Hayden Panettiere after the actress was found unresponsive at a South Carolina apartment.
The ‘Heroes’ star, 36, was discovered at around 1:50 p.m. Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina, according to a Greenville Police Department statement. An acquaintance placed the 911 call that brought officers to the scene, police said.
“Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene,” a department spokesperson said.
“The case is under investigation by the Greenville Police Department in conjunction with the Greenville County Coroner’s Office,” the statement continued. “The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. An acquaintance of Ms. Panettiere placed the 911 call.”
A cause of death has not been revealed. “There’s an investigation ongoing,” Kacey Kitchen, the late actress’ publicist, said.
Panettiere had flown from Los Angeles with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson on Saturday, reports said, citing law enforcement sources. The outlet noted that a source close to the actress said she had been complaining about back pain for roughly the past year.
“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,” her father, Skip Panettiere, said in a statement to ABC News. “We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
The actress was born August 21, 1989, in Palisades, New York, and began her career as an infant in commercials. “My introduction to acting was actually at 11 months old,” Panettiere told Entertainment Tonight in 2023. “Playskool Toy Train was my first commercial, but, 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 landed her first soap opera role at age four on “One Life to Live” in 1994, later appearing on “Guiding Light” and voicing Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film “A Bug’s Life.” Her breakthrough came as cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC’s “Heroes,” which ran from 2006 to 2010, followed by her starring turn as country singer Juliette Barnes on ABC’s “Nashville” from 2012 to 2018.
Panettiere reprised her role as Kirby Reed in 2023’s “Scream VI” after first playing the character in 2011’s “Scream 4.” “I love you Hayden,” David Arquette, her co-star in “Scream 4,” wrote on social media following news of her death. “Rest in peace sweet Hayden,” Melissa Barrera, who starred alongside Panettiere in “Scream VI,” posted on her Instagram Stories.
The actress was open about her struggles with opioid and alcohol addiction and postpartum depression in the years before her death. “I would have the shakes when I woke up and could only function with sipping alcohol,” she said in July 2022. She was hospitalized with jaundice and entered rehab in 2020, spending eight months in treatment. “A doctor told me that if I didn’t stop drinking, I’d be dead within five years,” she said. She described feeling “more clear-headed than I’d ever been” upon leaving rehab in 2021.
Panettiere was mother to daughter Kaya, 11, whom she shared with retired heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko. The couple began dating in 2009, became engaged in 2013, and separated in 2018. Panettiere had discussed the difficulty of granting Klitschko full custody of their daughter while she sought treatment, calling it “the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life” during an appearance on Red Table Talk.
She was preceded in death by her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, who died in February 2023 at age 28 from aortic valve complications. Panettiere addressed his death in her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” released in May.
In the viral moment that defined her early fame, Panettiere starred as indestructible high school cheerleader Claire Bennet on “Heroes,” whose tagline “Save the cheerleader, save the world” became a cultural touchstone of late-2000s television. The role made her a household name and teen magazine fixture before she successfully pivoted to the musically demanding role of Juliette Barnes on “Nashville,” earning multiple award nominations and releasing several charting singles through the show.
Her final acting credit came in the 2026 psychological thriller “Sleepwalker,” directed by Brandon Auman, where she starred alongside Justin Chatwin and Beverly D’Angelo.