Hayden Panettiere's former partner, Wladimir Klitschko, has paid tribute to the actress, saying their family is going through a time of “profound shock and grief”.
Panettiere, best known for her roles in TV shows Heroes and Nashville, died on Sunday at the age of 36.
Klitschko, a former Ukrainian world heavyweight boxing champion, had an on-and-off relationship with Panettiere after they began dating in 2009. The couple became engaged in 2013 and welcomed their daughter, Kaya, in 2014. Panettiere relinquished custody of Kaya to Klitschko in 2018 amid struggles with postpartum depression and addiction.
“The announcement of Hayden’s tragic death saddens me deeply. She left this world far too soon,” Klitschko wrote in a statement on Instagram. “Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya.
“She built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry. Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives.”
Klitschko promised to ensure their daughter remembers her mother.
“To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was,” he said.
Panettiere was found in cardiac arrest shortly before her death on Sunday, according to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. “On August 16, 2026, at approximately 1.51pm, a 911 call was received regarding a reported cardiac arrest at 701 Easley Bridge Road in Greenville,” the coroner's office said.
“First responders and Emergency Medical Services arrived on scene and located a female in cardiac arrest. EMS personnel initiated advanced cardiac life-support measures; however, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the individual was pronounced deceased at 2.32pm.”
Greenville is a city in South Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the home where Panettiere was found is reportedly an Airbnb-style residence.
An autopsy carried out on Monday found no signs of trauma that could have contributed to her death, while her official cause and manner of death “remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies”, including a toxicology report.
Panettiere's father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death in a statement to ABC News on Sunday evening.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. 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 on screen,” he said.
He asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss”.
Born in New York on August 21, 1989, Panettiere began appearing in commercials when she was only 11 months old and landed her first acting role at the age of six in the soap opera One Life to Live. She later appeared in Guiding Light, Ally McBeal, Malcolm in the Middle and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Her breakout role came in the superhero drama Heroes, which ran from 2006 to 2010. She played Claire Bennet, a high-school cheerleader with the ability to spontaneously regenerate. The phrase “Save the cheerleader, save the world” became one of the show's defining catchphrases.
Panettiere later starred in the musical drama Nashville and appeared in films including Remember the Titans, Ice Princess, I Love You, Beth Cooper and Scream 4. She returned as fan-favourite character Kirby Reed in Scream VI in 2023 after several years away from acting.
In May, Panettiere released her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she reflected on growing up in the entertainment industry, her relationship with fame and the difficulties she had faced throughout her life including her struggles with addiction.
Panettiere's younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died unexpectedly in 2023 at the age of 28. His family later said his death was caused by cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, coupled with complications involving the aortic valve.
