Hayden Panettiere's final project revealed after her death aged 36

Hayden Panettiere's final project has been released 'in tribute to her life and legacy', following her sudden death at the age of 36.

The Ice Princess actress was found unresponsive at an apartment complex in Greenville on Sunday (August 16), as her father, Skip, shared the heartbreaking news in a statement.

He described the star as 'a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her'.

But just days following the devastating announcement, Panettiere's final project in collaboration with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has been released by the non-profit organization.

The campaign was filmed two weeks before her death, making it one of the last things she ever worked on.

In the video, Panettiere spoke about the conditions marine animals are facing in captivity - a cause that had long been close to her heart.

"Could you live in a bathtub?" she asked in the poignant clip.

The actress added: "Can you imagine their frustration, their trauma, their depression? All that is important and crucial for their well-being is ripped away... We can end this. You and me.

"In their ocean homes they can be with their families, dive deep to escape the hot sun and enjoy the rain on their backs…all of that is taken from them when they are confined to small tanks."

PETA released the footage as a tribute to her activism, as it wrote: "In one of the last acts of her short, impactful life, Hayden Panettiere asked her audience and the world to think of dolphins and orcas and boycott marine parks.

"In tribute to her life and legacy of compassion, we’re sharing the campaign, which marks a poignant final chapter in Panettiere’s fierce advocacy for marine mammals."

The charity further urged people to 'honor Hayden's memory by refusing to buy a ticket to any place that condemns these remarkable animals to tiny concrete tanks'.

According to Page Six, a PETA representative confirmed the project was shot on July 22 and said Panettiere was 'wonderful' on the set.

Panettiere's estranged mother breaks her silence

Three days on from her tragic death, the star's estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, spoke out.

In an interview with NBC yesterday (August 18), she noted that Panettiere had 'lost her way' in recent years.

The 70-year-old added: "I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry - it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it’s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path."

The Heroes star had opened up about her relationship with her mom earlier this year while promoting the release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

Speaking with US Weekly in May, she admitted: "Unfortunately, we don't have a relationship right now.

"But that doesn't mean that I don't leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day."

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.”