New details emerge about Hayden Panettiere’s final moments

New details have emerged surrounding Hayden Panettiere’s sudden death at age 36.

It has been revealed that the actress’s boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, administered Narcan to Panettiere before he and his brother performed CPR while waiting for emergency services to arrive, according to his brother Zach Hickerson.

The Heroes and Nashville star’s death was announced on Sunday, August 16 (Monday, August 17 AEST), after she was found unresponsive at a home in Greenville, South Carolina.

“There are a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations currently swirling,” Zach told TMZ. 

“The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.”

“At this time, I want to clarify my involvement in effort to keep the focus on the fact that we lost one of the most precious individuals on this earth and to allow those that cared about her to mourn without additional noise, chaos, and misinformation being created and propagated by the media as well as the public,” he continued.

Zach said he had plans to meet his brother and the actress for lunch and indoor golf on the day of her passing, but when neither responded to his calls nor messages, he went to the Airbnb where the pair were staying.

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“When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realised she was unconscious,” Zach told the outlet.

“I immediately called 911, and Brian gave her Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until firefighters and EMS (Emergency Medical Services) arrived. At that point, we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life,” he said. 

Narcan, also known as naloxone, is an emergency medication used to rapidly reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Panettiere was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 911 emergency call was later published by multiple US outlets, revealing that paramedics were called to the property in South Carolina over reports of an overdose, though authorities have not announced an official cause of death.

At the time Panettiere’s death was shared, a spokesperson for the Greenville Police Department confirmed that a preliminary investigation had “not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

Authorities have since opened a “death investigation”, with police and the coroner working to determine the true cause and manner of the star’s death.

Detectives are also trying to determine if there is any evidence of criminal conduct.

Zach described Panettiere as one of his “dearest and closest friends” of eight years and said he was “beyond heartbroken and devastated” by her death.

“Out of respect for her loved ones, the speculation and sensationalism of her death needs to end until the facts can be released from the investigation,” he said.

Panettiere had previously spoken publicly about her struggles with alcohol and opioid addiction, telling People in 2022 that she had sought treatment after reaching a particularly difficult point in her life.

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