Hayden Panettiere Dead at 36

LOS ANGELES — Actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in “Scream,” Heroes,” and many other films and television series has died. She was 36.

A  representative confirms the news, saying in a statement shared on behalf of her father, Alan Panettiere, “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 onscreen,” he added.

Panettiere died on Sunday, Aug. 16. Further details surrounding her death are not immediately available.

The actress made her film debut at the age of 9, as the narrator and the voice of Princess Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life (1996), before she landed one of her most notable roles: the football-loving young daughter of assistant coach Bill Yoast, played by Will Patton, in the film Remember the Titans (2000).

She was involved in a relationship with Ukrainian champion heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko from 2009-11 and 2013–18, and they had a daughter, daughter, Kaya, in 2014. Her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died in February 2023 of complications from an aortic valve at age 28.

In May, Panettiere had published her ra candid memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, where she spoke about growing up as a child star, her struggles with addiction, postpartum depression and more.

In December 2014, she and her then-fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, welcomed a daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko.

The one-time couple raised Kaya, who is now 11, together for the first four years, but in 2018, Panettiere gave full custody of her to Klitschko.