Coroner's office issues statement after death of Hayden Panettiere aged 36
A statement has been issued by the coroner's office which says attempts to resuscitate Hayden Panettiere, aged, 36, were 'unsuccessful'.
In a statement issued to the BBC, Greenville County Coroner's Office, which is investigating the death of Panettiere, note that emergency services were called to an address on Sunday (August 16) for a woman in cardiac arrest, but resuscitation efforts 'were unsuccessful'.
The statement identifies the woman as 36-year-old Hayden Leslie Panettiere.
"An autopsy was completed today," the statement notes.
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"At autopsy no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death. The cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies."
The 36-year-old was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday afternoon (August 16).
Following the tragic news, the police department are now investigating the death of the actress.
"On August 16, 2026, at approximately 1.51pm, officers from the Greenville Police Department, accompanied by EMS personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female at Judson Mill Lofts, located at 701 Easley Bridge Road," a spokesperson for City of Greenville Police told the Daily Mail.
"Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
"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."
Panettiere began her demanding acting career when she was just 11 months old, when she appeared in a commercial for a toy brand.
But despite being the voice actor for Princess Dot in A Bug’s Life and starring in US soap One Life to Live, her fame reached another level when she was cast as cheerleader Claire Bennet in the smash hit Heroes.
She then earned two Golden Globe nominations for her performance as the troubled country star Juliette Barnes in the musical drama Nashville.
Following the heartbreaking news, her former co-stars shared emotional tributes online, with fellow Scream actor Melissa Barrera noting: "Rest in peace sweet Hayden."
In 2014, Panettiere gave birth to her daughter, Kaya, who she shares with former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.
After visiting rehab in 2015 due to her battles with alcohol addiction, she later gave full custody of Kaya to Klitschko in 2018 while she focused on her recovery.
"I didn't know where the alcoholism was ending and the postpartum was beginning," she told ABC News in 2022.
A timeline of Hayden Panettiere’s troubled Hollywood career
August 1989
Hayden Panettiere is born to firefighter Skip Panettiere and Lesley Vogel, who would go on to be Hayden’s manager.
1990
Panettiere appears in a commercial at 11 months old, later landing recurring roles in soap operas as a child actor.
2004/2005
Aged 15, Panettiere said someone on her team started offering her ‘happy pills’. She later tells People: “They were to make me peppy during interviews.
"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.”
2006
Aged 17, Panettiere lands one of the defining roles of her career as Claire Bennett in Heroes.
2007-2009
Panettiere later reveals several disturbing incidents that happened during this period in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Aged 18, she claims she was led onto a yacht by ‘somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector’ and placed into bed next to an ‘undressed man who was very famous’.
In 2008, she alleged a network executive kissed her on the lips at a party.
Aged 19, she said a ‘well-respected, award-winning actor’ tricked her into looking at his testicles through an unzipped fly.
In 2007, she also starts dating Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia - she is 18 and he is 30. They split in 2009.
2009
Panettiere starts dating Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Meanwhile, her father Skip is handed two years of informal probation after pleading ‘no contest’ to spousal battery.
2013
Panettiere and Klitschko get engaged.
December 2014
Panettiere and Klitschko’s daughter Kaya is born. Panettiere endures an incredibly difficult pregnancy, hemorrhaging during her c-section and being forced to undergo a three-hour surgery.
2015
Panettiere begins suffering severe post-partum depression. She later tells Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast: “I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong. I wasn't connecting with [Kaya] the way I should be.”
She uses alcohol to manage her mental health struggles and enters treatment when Kaya is four months old.
She later says she became dependent on medication to sleep, and then turned to drinking vodka.
2018
Klitschko presents Panettiere with custody papers asking for full custody of Kaya. After initially fighting back, she eventually accepts and Kaya goes to live with Klitschko in Ukraine.
She writes in her memoir: “Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life”
Meanwhile, her long-running role in TV show Nashville comes to an end and she doesn’t have any more TV or film roles for five years.
In the same year, she starts dating actor Brian Hickerson.
2020
Panettiere spends an eight month stint in rehab.
She experiences brutal alcohol withdrawal symptoms including insomnia and intense headaches.
Meanwhile, her now-ex Hickerson is charged with felony assault.
2021
Hickerson pleads no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse/cohabitant/girlfriend/child's parent and is sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years probation.
2023
Panettiere returns to acting, reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.
In the same year, her brother Jansen dies aged 28 from an enlarged heart.
May 2026
Panettiere releases her memoir in which she makes disturbing allegations against film stars and industry execs from when she was a teenager.
She also opens up on her experience of postpartum depression and comes out as bisexual.
August 2026
Panettiere tragically dies. Police say: “The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”
Mia Williams