Hayden Panettiere’s Health Before Her Death

Hayden Panettiere tragically passed away on Sunday, August 16, at just 36 years old. The actress, known for breakout performances in Heroes and Scream 4, was reportedly dealing with health problems leading up to her death.

“She was heartbroken,” an insider told Rob Shuter’s Naughty But Nice. “She had been fighting for so long, and she wanted her life to finally feel different.”

Sources told TMZ that Panettiere had been “complaining of back pain regularly” for the past year, and the outlet later reported that the Nashville star was seen using crutches at a Los Angeles airport back in March 2026. At the time, the two-time Golden Globe nominee told paparazzi she was dealing with pinched nerves in the back. 

Related: Hayden Panettiere’s Apparent Cause of Death Revealed as Police Sources Disclose if There Was ‘Foul Play’ or Anything ‘Suspicious’

In May, she opened up to Women’s Health and revealed that she’d “been dealing with an injury for the past year. Some nerve damage in my lower back.”

“I literally woke up and felt nothing but pins and needles from my waist down,” she explained. “I wasn’t able to bend my toes, lift my foot at all. No one was able to give me a solid answer.”

She added, “It was like that for so long that I was sitting there going, ‘Oh my gosh, am I going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life?’ It’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me physically, for sure.”

Panettiere shared that she’s been injured on TV and film sets multiple times, including several pulled muscles. She was also “bucked off a zebra” and, as a result, had “two vertebrae that were pushed into [her] neck.”

Throughout her life, Panettiere also battled with mental health and severe addiction. At just 15 years old, her team urged her to take “happy pills” before public appearances. “They were to make me peppy during interviews,” she told People in 2022. “I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”

This Is Me: A Reckoning

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“In this memoir, Hayden shares a rare and intimate glimpse into her life behind closed doors, opening up about postpartum depression, addiction and recovery, trauma, domestic abuse, and loss.”

As she got older, “the drugs and alcohol became something [she] almost couldn’t live without.” After giving birth to her daughter, Kaya, whom she shared with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, Panettiere struggled with postpartum depression. “I never had the feeling that I wanted to harm my child, but I didn’t want to spend any time with her,” she admitted. “There was just this gray color in my life.”

She continued to cope with alcohol, telling People that at her lowest, “I would have the shakes when I woke up and could only function with sipping alcohol.” Eventually, she was hospitalized with jaundice, and “doctors told me my liver was going to give out. I was no longer a 20-year-old who could just bounce right back.”

Shortly after, Panettiere entered rehab for eight months—and it helped her “get over the hump” of her addiction. She spoke candidly about her struggles in interviews and in her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. Panettiere even returned to acting, reprising her role as fan-favorite character Kirby Reed in 2023’s Scream VI.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, help is available. Call the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for free, confidential support.