It has been a month since the death of actress Hayden Panettiere (Heroes, Nashville). According to The Hollywood Reporter, her death has been rules as an accident from Greenville County Coroner’s Office on Tuesday.
At age 36, Panettiere died from toxic effects found in a pill full of fentanyl and the other prescription drugs she used, including alprazolam, methocarbamol, and quetiapine. She was found by first responders and EMS in Greenville, South Carolina after her on-off boyfriend Brain Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson called 911. Their efforts to saving her were unsuccessful and she was pronounced dead. Brian showed the paramedics a ‘bag of medication’ that belonged to her, saying she was taking it. Zach then told in another interview that his brother gave Panettiere Narcan, which was medication that reverse the usage of opioid overdose. The Drug Enforcement Administration joined the investigation to look farther into her death.
Panettiere shared her struggles with substance abuse back in 2022 after her immature actions during that time. She tells how she was battling her addiction from alcohol and opioids. Though she did less substance working on set, she tells People magazine that couldn’t ignore the need for drugs and alcohol over her time off set. She mostly used the drugs to help her panic attacks through the stress and anxiety.
After having her daughter, Kaya, with her ex Wladimir Klitschko (former professional boxer), Panettiere struggled with postpartum depression. Even though she was getting treatment, she still had trouble with drinking and using drugs, such as opioids. She says: “He didn’t want to be around me. I didn’t want to be around me. But with the opiates and alcohol, I was doing anything to make me feel happy for a moment. Then I’d feel worse than I did before. I was in a cycle of self-destruction.”
Panettiere never was negative or abusive to her own daughter as she always wanted to be a mother, but she felt she was unable to be close to her. She had felt something was wrong with herself and she would always be sad when raising Kaya. She drank to help calm her nervous system, but it only made things worse for her.