Hayden Panettiere Grew Up in Front of the Camera. It Took a Toll.
New York Times · LC · trust 52/100
The “Heroes” and “Nashville” star, who died Sunday at 36, endured personal struggles that were compounded by her public profile.
Listen · 5:35 min Share full article Hayden Panettiere with Jay Leno in 1996, when she was a 7-year-old actress. Credit... Margaret Norton/NBC, via Getty Images By Malia Mendez
But like many wunderkinds, Panettiere, who died on Sunday at 36 , frequently seemed burdened by her success. Her well-documented struggles — with alcohol, drugs, body image, her family, her significant others — seem inextricable from the public scrutiny that lit up so much of her life.
“In an era of relentless paparazzi with an appetite for celebrity breakdowns, naysayers were certain this young starlet would crash and burn,” reads one description of “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” the no-holds-barred memoir that Panettiere released this year. “Not one to disappoint, she did.”
Panettiere seemed to have recently made peace with her thorny story, telling The New York Times in May that she maintained a “laundry list of aspirations,” including directing and producing, perhaps a lifestyle brand.
But on Monday, emergency responders who arrived at an apartment in Greenville, S.C., found Panettiere in cardiac arrest. A person with knowledge of the situation told The Times that an apparent drug overdose was the cause .
Born in Palisades, N.Y., in 1989, Panettiere rose to prominence as a child actor before her starring role as the supernaturally gifted cheerleader Claire Bennet in the hit NBC sci-fi drama series “Heroes.” She was offered the job on the spot, she recalled in her memoir, writing, “I thought my heart was going to explode with gratitude.”
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