A 911 call has revealed new details about former Scream star Hayden Panettiere, who passed away on Sunday. The 36-year-old Hollywood actress was also widely known for her outstanding roles in shows like Heroes and Nashville.
The 911 dispatch audio reveals that paramedics responded to a call made at 1:51 pm by a friend for an unresponsive woman under cardiac arrest inside a house in Greenville, South Carolina on Sunday, August 16, 2026, reports TMZ. Authorities in the 911 call mention “overdose” while the “CPR [was] in progress”.
Although the word “overdose” was used in the dispatch audio, the actual cause of Hayden Panettiere’s death hasn’t been confirmed yet. The overall situation regarding her death remains under investigation. It’s still unclear whether her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson made the emergency call.
Beyond acting, Hayden Panettiere used her platform to speak openly about mental health
Hayden Panettiere was known for expressing her heart out on mental health. Earlier this year, the late actress also released a memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, while throwing light on the darkest moments of her life.
In her memoir, Panettiere revealed that she previously struggled with postpartum depression and addiction. According to her, it led to her deciding to give up custody of her daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, back in 2018, to former partner Wladimir Klitschko, a professional Ukrainian boxer.
Recalling the time of becoming a mother, back in 2014, Panettiere revealed on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast that she felt “miserable” and “in tears all the time.”
During a 2015 appearance on On Live! With Kelly and Michael, via TODAY, she stated, “It’s something a lot of women experience. When (you are told) about postpartum depression, you think it’s ‘I feel negative feelings towards my child; I want to injure or hurt my child.’ I’ve never ever had those feelings.”
Back in 2024, she had expressed her pain and sorrow of losing her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, in 2023. He passed away due to an undiagnosed heart condition. “When you lose somebody that you saw in all the important moments in your life, standing right next to you, it just rocks your world,” she told the TODAY show.
