Hayden Panettiere’s Cause Of Death Confirmed

The official cause of death has been confirmed for Hayden Panettiere. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office in South Carolina has determined Panettiere died from the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, Alprazolam, Methocarbamol, and Quetiapine. The manner of death has been ruled accident.

The actor, known best for her starring roles on NBC’s Heroes and ABC’s Nashville, died Sunday, Aug. 16. She was 36. A friend of Panettiere’s called 911 reporting an “unresponsive female.” On the audio, medics were heard discussing an “overdose” and “cardiac arrest” around the time of her death. Paramedics attempted to resuscitate Panettiere using “advanced cardiac life support,” but she was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Panettiere had been open about her struggles with depression and addiction. The actress told People she was given “happy pills” at the age of 15. She got Heroes at 16, and graduated to drinking and occasionally taking opioids. “My saving grace is that I couldn’t be messy while on set and working,” she said. “But things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.

Panettiere was a child star who appeared in commercials and had a four-year run as Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live (1994-97), and then on The Guiding Light as Lizzie Spaulding. She made her big-screen debut at the age of 9 with a voice role in A Bug’s Life. The same year she also appeared in The Object of My Affection. In 2000, she played the daughter of a coach in the Denzel Washington starrer Remember the Titans. In 2004, Panettiere landed her first starring roles a the daughter of actor Bill Pullman’s character in Tiger Cruise on The Disney Channel.

In 2006, came Heroes, and her role as high school cheerleader Claire Bennet in the NBC drama about superheroes juggling normal life and saving the world. Six years later, she landed the role of rising country music star Juliette Barnes in Nashville opposite Connie Britton.

She also appeared as Kirby Reed in three Scream films: Scream 4 (2011), cameo in its sequel Scream (2022) and Scream VI (2023).