Hayden Panettiere began her career at 11 months old. It was the start of a tumultuous life

For years, Hayden Panettiere appeared on our screens in some of Hollywood’s most beloved roles, from Heroes to Bring It On.

But her acting career began long before most realise, landing her first role when she was just 11 months old.

Panettiere has died aged 36. While the cause of death is not yet known, tributes have begun to flood social media from fans, friends, and peers.

In 1990, Panettiere made her on-screen debut as an infant. She was just shy of turning one when she appeared in a Playskool commercial.

“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 told Entertainment Tonight in a 2023 interview.

By the time she was four, Panettiere had landed her first acting gig as Sarah Roberts on the soap opera One Life to Live. She starred in the show from 1994 to 1997, by which time she’d already joined the cast of another soap opera, Guiding Light.

At just 10 years old, Panettiere had achieved worldwide recognition. She remained on Guiding Light until 2000, appeared in Remember the Titans, and voiced the character Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life.

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At the time it seemed normal. Panettiere had never known a life outside showbusiness.

But in a May 2026 interview reflecting on her career as a child star, Panettiere recounted the grim reality behind her rise to fame.

“I was groomed. I was like a little soldier, and I always have been. No was never an option,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

“It was just, ‘Here are your scenes, here’s your dialogue, memorise it, hit the marks, do what your director tells you to do.’ I took my marching orders.”

Throughout the early 2000s and into the 2010s, Panettiere worked tirelessly, starring in projects including Ice Princess, Bring It On: All or Nothing, I Love You Beth Cooper, and, arguably, her biggest role, Claire Bennet in Heroes from 2006 to 2010.

She told The Hollywood Reporter that she never realised that her childhood was abnormal until she began “self-harming in the form of substance abuse”.

In Panettiere’s 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, she opened up about how her battle with addiction began. She was just 15 years old when her team began to offer her “happy pills” ahead of press events.

“They were to make me peppy during interviews,” she revealed.

“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.”

At 22, Panettiere was cast in another major TV show. It was in 2012 that she took on the role of Juliette Barnes in the hit musical TV series Nashville, a role she claimed the writers intended to mimic her own life.

“Straight from the beginning, it was like, I’m dating a football player, [and then] Juliette dates a football player,” she told The Messenger in 2024.

Her first few years on the show saw her skyrocket to a newfound level of fame, then, in 2014, she welcomed her daughter.

Panettiere gave birth to Kaya Avdokia Klitschko on December 9, 2014. She shared her daughter with her former fiancé, Ukranian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

It was after Kaya’s birth that Panettiere’s role on Nashville took a dark turn as she saw her character’s storyline begin to mimic her real-life struggles with postpartum depression and substance abuse.

“I was self-medicating and looking for relief at the bottom of a bottle, and it was the only thing that worked,” she said in a 2026 appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast.

“But I needed to numb. I needed to self-numb. I needed my brain to take a trip.”

In 2015, she took a leave of absence from the fourth season of the show, choosing to check into a treatment centre for her postpartum depression.

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She returned to the show in January 2016, but her struggles with addiction eventually led her to sign over full custody of her daughter to Klitschko in 2018.

“It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But I wanted to be a good mum to her – and sometimes that means letting them go,” she told People in 2022.

As her addiction worsened, Panettiere was eventually hospitalised for jaundice and was told by a doctor that if she didn’t stop drinking, she would be dead within five years.

“I was no longer a 20-year-old who could just bounce right back,” she told People.

In 2020, she checked into rehab, an intensive 12-step program over eight months, which she credits with giving her the tools to overcome her addiction and find peace.

“It’s an everyday choice, and I’m checking in with myself all the time,” she told People.

“But I’m just so grateful to be part of this world again, and I will never take it for granted again.”

In 2023, she returned to acting with a role in Scream VI, and in 2026, she released her memoir, embarking on the most candid press tour of her career, where she detailed her struggles with addiction, depression, and the loss of her younger brother in 2023.

Speaking with Shetty, Panettiere opened up about her relationship with her now 11-year-old daughter, who still lives with her dad in Europe.

“I have an incredible relationship with her. I go travel as much as I can. I see her. I do spend a lot of time on FaceTime with her, but we talk about really deep things. We have a really intense, incredible bond and I’m very grateful for that,” she said.

“I know that she knows that she has two parents that would do anything in the world to make sure that she is happy and healthy, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually.

“She in no way feels abandoned and that’s something that I’ve made sure to stay on top of and be very aware of.”

News of Panettiere’s death came just three months after her conversation with Shetty.

Her dad, Alan “Skip” Panettiere, shared a statement with multiple US outlets on Monday.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” the statement read.

“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.”

At the time of publishing, Panettiere’s cause of death is unknown.

The National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline (1800 250 015) provides free and confidential advice about alcohol and other drugs, including available treatment options, and automatically directs the caller to the Alcohol and Drug Information Service in their state/territory.

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).