The news of Ice Princess star Hayden Panettiere’s untimely demise at 36 on August 16 left millions of fans grieving and searching for answers about the circumstances surrounding her final hours.
Her on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, quickly became the focus of online speculation after reports placed him beside her.
“He had a history of subjecting her to physical violence. He finally ki**ed her,” one person alleged at the time.
Highlights
- Officials ruled Hayden Panettiere’s passing accidental after toxicology testing revealed multiple substances in her system.
- The actress had been candid about her struggles with addiction over the years.
- Panettiere’s estrangement from her mother resurfaced as reports detailed her absence from her memorial service.
The coroner’s office, however, put the conjecture to rest on Tuesday, September 22, ruling that Panettiere’s passing was accidental and caused by substance misuse.
A combination of prescription medicines and illicit compounds claimed Hayden Panettiere’s life
Paramedics pronounced Panettiere lifeless about 40 minutes after an acquaintance called 911 last month, saying she was in “cardiac arrest” following a suspected o**rdose.
The suspicion was confirmed after a toxicology test was performed on the actress.
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office verified the presence of fentanyl, as well as medications including alprazolam, known by its brand name Xanax, methocarbamol, a muscle relaxant, and quetiapine, an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder in her system.
An autopsy conducted alongside the toxicology examination also found no signs of trauma.
Panettiere had been open about her struggles with substance dependency
Panettiere was only 11 months old when she landed her first gig for Playskool. At four, she was cast in the major ABC soap opera One Life to Live as Sarah Roberts.
She later transitioned to playing Elizabeth “Lizzie” Spaulding on another long-running show, Guiding Light, before appearing as a preteen in the hit Disney sports film Remember the Titans.
Childhood fame took a toll on her mental health, as she explained in a 2022 interview with People.
She confessed to turning to intoxicants as a reprieve.
“As I got older, d**gs and al**hol became something I almost couldn’t live without,” she said.
After welcoming daughter Kaya with ex Wladimir Klitschko, the actress struggled with postpartum depression, for which she sought treatment, but continued to battle drinking and substance misuse as her relationship with Klitschko crumbled.
“He didn’t want to be around me,” she recalled.
“I didn’t want to be around me. But with the pills and al**hol, I was doing anything to make me feel happy for a moment. Then I’d feel worse than I did before."
Panettiere’s toxicology report followed her friends honoring her at a memorial over the weekend
Approximately 150 guests, including Paris Hilton and Panettiere’s former Nashville co-stars Connie Britton, Charles Esten, Lennon Stella, and Jonathan Jackson, honored the late actress at a Malibu church on Saturday.
Ruby Rose, who described Panettiere as her best friend, was also among those mourning her.
Sources described the memorial as both “emotional and beautiful.”
The service included the release of doves, a poignant Christian symbol frequently associated with peace, hope, and the soul’s release into God’s care.
Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, however, was absent from the gathering.
While some reports claimed she was not invited, others said she cited a family emergency as the reason for her no-show.
Hayden Panettiere was estranged from her mother at the time of her passing
Vogel was not only Panettiere’s mother but also the person who introduced her to the entertainment industry when she was only an infant.
She managed her daughter’s career until she was 19, a role that contributed to friction between the two.
In her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, published in May, Panettiere said their professional relationship eventually contributed to their estrangement.
According to Vogel, however, she was the one who initiated the “no contact” arrangement with Panettiere after “20 years of trauma.”
She explained that it was difficult for her to watch her child make “self-destructive” choices, including using substances.
While she said she did her best to help her, realizing that “you cannot save someone who does not want to be saved” made her step back.
Panettiere devastatingly said she had “a lot more life to live” in an interview promoting her book.
"Fentanyl keeps proving it doesn't care who you are," a netizen said
