Hayden Panettiere, who rose to fame as a child actor before spending her adult years openly discussing addiction and postpartum depression, died only months after saying publicly that she felt ready for a new chapter in her life.

Panettiere became widely recognised through her television and film work, but she also spoke candidly about facing domestic violence, the difficulties of motherhood, and personal loss while under constant public scrutiny. Her death at age 36, at an apartment in South Carolina far from home, has left her family, friends and fans searching for answers about her final hours.

Here’s a timeline of Panettiere’s life and career, from her earliest days in front of the camera to the days surrounding her death.

Panettiere first appeared on camera at just 11 months old in a commercial for a toy train. By age seven, in 1996, she had joined the cast of the long-running soap opera “Guiding Light,” playing Lizzie Spaulding until 2000. The show was the longest-running television drama centred on multiple families in a fictional Midwestern town.

Panettiere later reflected in her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” published earlier this year, that the show’s dramatic storylines including a kidnapping plot and a battle with leukaemia were harmful to her development as a child. She wrote that she came to associate misfortune with being loved.

In 2005, Panettiere starred as a competitive teenage figure skater opposite Kim Cattrall in Disney’s “Ice Princess.” A year later, at 17, she landed her breakout role on NBC’s “Heroes,” playing an indestructible cheerleader in the acclaimed series about ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. While the show’s fans embraced her as one of its standout performers, her rising profile also brought intense tabloid attention focused on her appearance and personal life.

In 2012, Panettiere joined the cast of “Nashville,” playing a talented but troubled young country singer. The show explored storylines involving alcoholism and postpartum depression, subjects Panettiere would later say hit close to home. She also recorded music for the series that charted on Billboard’s country listings.

Panettiere gave birth to her daughter, Kaya, in December 2014, with former fiancé and boxer Wladimir Klitschko. She soon experienced postpartum depression, and her prior struggles with substance use resurfaced. Panettiere later described the period as one where she felt something was deeply wrong with her, and said she wished someone had told her it was normal not to feel instant, overwhelming love for a newborn.

In 2018, Panettiere sent her daughter to live with Klitschko in Ukraine, calling it one of the hardest decisions of her life but one she felt was necessary to be a good parent.

Brian Hickerson was charged in 2019 with a felony count of injuring a partner; Panettiere later wrote about the abusive relationship in her memoir, calling him only “Brian.” He pleaded to two related felony counts in 2021 and received four years of probation. In her book, she described violent arguments and multiple arrests, including one on Valentine’s Day 2020 in Wyoming.

Hickerson later told TMZ he’d been drinking and got physical with her that day, calling the memoir’s account “my chapter.” Separately, Panettiere’s brother Jansen died in February 2023 at 28 from heart complications; she later told Jay Shetty losing him felt like nothing else she’d experienced.

Panettiere told Women’s Health in May that she had been managing a back injury for the past year that caused nerve damage and numbness. Later that month, she appeared on Shetty’s podcast to discuss her memoir, touching on the pressures of being a child star, her parents’ separation when she was 18, and her mother’s dual role as both parent and manager. Panettiere said she and her mother were no longer in contact, but that she felt she had moved past much of the pain from her past and had more life ahead of her.

Emergency responders were called to a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16 after a 911 call around 1:51 p.m., and found Panettiere in cardiac arrest. Dispatch audio reviewed by CNN suggested a possible overdose and that CPR was already underway, though officials have not confirmed whether an overdose occurred.

A police report said officers spoke with brothers Brian and Zach Hickerson at the scene, who said they had called for help. Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m., according to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office.

Zach Hickerson later told TMZ that he and his brother had gone to wake Panettiere from a nap when they found her unresponsive, and that Brian administered Narcan before the two performed CPR until paramedics arrived. The police report noted Hickerson showed officers a bag of Panettiere’s medications, though most identifying details were redacted. The responding officer confirmed he was wearing a body camera, though that footage has not been made public.

An autopsy found no signs of trauma, and her cause of death remains undetermined pending toxicology results. Tributes came in from Viola Davis, Kim Cattrall and Rosie O’Donnell, and her body was released to her family’s mortuary on August 18, the same day Klitschko praised her talent in a statement.

The DEA joined the investigation on August 20, though an overdose has not been confirmed. Panettiere would have turned 37 on August 21; Klitschko marked the day online, saying the family chose to honour her life and spirit.

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