Neighbors say Alan “Skip” Panettiere was only beginning to heal from one child’s death when he lost another.
Skip Panettiere, a well-known figure in Piermont, New York, had “retreated” after his son Jansen, 28, died in February 2023 from an undiagnosed heart condition, an acquaintance in the Rockland County village said on Monday. Another community member told reporters that Skip finally “seemed like he was starting to come back from it” when Hayden Panettiere, 36, died Sunday in a Greenville, South Carolina Airbnb apartment.
The “Nashville” and “Heroes” star had just visited her dad in New York a month ago, locals recalled on Monday. “She would dine here and in my other restaurant,” said Vittorio Lanni, owner of Trattoria da Vittorio across the street from Skip’s Piermont apartment. “Skip is a great customer, a great friend, a great guy. He’s someone who really supports the neighborhood. He’s a very nice man,” Lanni continued.
The grieving father confirmed his daughter’s death in a statement on 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,” the statement continued. He asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
Hayden’s shocking death came just three months after she published her deeply candid memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning.” In it, the former child star opened up about her harrowing battles with alcohol and opioid addiction, postpartum depression, domestic abuse and the pressures of growing up in Hollywood. She recalled that doctors told her she risked being dead within five years if she didn’t stop drinking.
The actress had been working since she was a baby, appearing in commercials at just 11 months old before landing roles on the soaps “One Life to Live” and “Guiding Light.” Panettiere later appeared in movies including “Remember the Titans” at 10 years old, before becoming a household name as Claire Bennet on “Heroes,” which premiered in 2006. She was also well-known as country singer Juliette Barnes on “Nashville,” a role she took on in 2012.
In recent years, Panettiere opened up about her battle with drug and alcohol addiction. In 2022, she revealed she was just 15 when she was offered “happy pills” before going onto the red carpet. “They were to make me peppy during interviews,” Panettiere said. “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… As I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.”
Panettiere checked into rehab in 2020 and spent eight months receiving treatment for her alcohol and drug addiction. In her memoir, she wrote about the painful effects of withdrawal. “As my nervous system tried to regulate itself without the depressant effects of alcohol, it went into overdrive, and my whole body shook, I couldn’t sleep, and my head pounded like it was pressing against my skull,” she recalled.
She shared one hard-won moment of recovery in the book. “Two weeks in, I started to feel calm,” Panettiere wrote. “I liked myself. What a revelation,” She said she even remembered what genuine happiness was. “Two weeks later, I laughed,” she continued. “Not because of [ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson] or Wlad or Mom or someone else whose approval I craved, but because of something I thought was funny. That laugh was all mine, and no one could take it from me.”
In the viral moment that preceded this latest tragedy, Hayden had spoken openly about her grief over losing her younger brother. 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.” Jansen Panettiere died suddenly in February 2023 from cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart, coupled with aortic valve complications.
First responders answered a 911 call at the Greenville residence at 1:51 p.m. Sunday and located Panettiere unresponsive and in cardiac arrest, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said Monday. Responders initiated advanced cardiac life support measures but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and she was pronounced deceased at 2:32 p.m. An autopsy was completed Monday with no signs of trauma discovered; her official cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation. Greenville police said their preliminary investigation found no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.
Panettiere is survived by her daughter Kaya, 11, whom she had in 2014 with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko. The actress would have turned 37 on Friday.