Before her shocking death, Hayden Panettiere was grappling with the sudden loss of her best friend and younger brother, Jansen Panettiere.
News broke on August 16, 2026, that Hayden had died at the age of 36. Authorities in South Carolina confirmed the following day that they had responded to reports of an “unresponsive female” at a residence, who was later identified as the Nashville actress.
In dispatch audio obtained by People at the time, officials were heard discussing an “overdose” and “cardiac arrest” around the time of Hayden’s death.
Three years prior, the Panettiere family suffered a major loss when Jansen was found unresponsive at his home in New York on February 19, 2023. The actor, who was 28, was pronounced dead at the scene, and his cause of death was later revealed as undiagnosed aortic valve complications from an enlarged heart.
Hayden — who starred alongside Jansen in Disney Channel’s Tiger Cruise and Racing Stripes — exclusively told Us in May 2026 that she felt responsible for her brother’s death after he battled addiction, which she also dealt with.
“I should have understood better than anybody what he was going through,” she told Us in her cover story, revealing Jansen had been using crack and heroin prior to his death. “And of all the people that could have saved him from passing away, it should have been me.”
While Hayden got Jansen treatment, she said he “didn’t love” it like she did, and then the call came that he was gone.
“Getting that call, it was like a punch in the gut, and I felt my mind just completely went blank,” she remembered. “Still, three years later, every time it’s his anniversary of his death, or his birthday, it’s actually gotten more and more painful, and [I’ve] come to more of a realization that he’s not coming back.”
Scroll down for Hayden’s most emotional and honest quotes about Jansen’s death:
1st Birthday Without Him
“Happy Birthday little brother. I miss you everyday. I’ll love you forever ❤️,” Hayden wrote via Instagram in September 2023 on what would have been Jansen’s 29th birthday.
1 Years of Heartache
“Today is the 1 year anniversary of my little brother’s passing,” the Heroes alum wrote alongside an Instagram photo of the siblings petting a dog. “Know that I keep him in my heart, keep his things close. His AMAZING paintings are what I see when I wake up and when I go to sleep. Rest in peace my brother. One day we’ll meet again. 🙏🏼❤️.”
The Physical Side of Grief
Hayden recalled in September 2024 how her body changed after her brother died, telling People, “I just ballooned out.”
She explained that she gained weight rapidly from the “stress and cortisol” going through her body.
“I didn’t feel confident to put on clothes and get out of the house, but I also knew that I needed to get out and keep moving or I’d never stop looking and feeling this way,” Hayden added. “It became a destructive hamster wheel of, do I feel good enough to go out?”
Feeling Responsible
“He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him,” the Remember the Titans actress told People in the same interview. “When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul.”
Still Processing
“I think it’s something that transforms over time,” Hayden said of her grief during a September 2024 appearance on the Today show. “Maybe the five stages of grief is for people who have had a heartbreak or find out some bad news. Like, yes, there are five stages, but there’s so much more in between.”
She noted, “And 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.”
Two Years Without Him
Hayden honored her brother via social media in February 2025 on the two-year anniversary of his death, sharing a black and white photo of them together.
“2 years ago today, I lost my little brother. This amazing human being touched the lives of so many. Especially mine,” the actress wrote. “The pain isn’t quantifiable. I pray you’re in a beautiful place J. That you’re at peace and that when all is said and done…I’ll see you again. Rest easy brother. You are so missed and beyond loved. 💜.”
Birthday Wishes
“My little brother Jansen would’ve turned 31 today. He was a remarkable human being,” Hayden wrote via Instagram in September 2025. “He was wise beyond his years and operated at a higher spiritual level than anyone I’ve ever met. He was everything that is good and pure in this world.”
She shared a photo of the siblings from their childhood, adding, “I miss him every single day but I know his spirit is always near, watching over and protecting me and my family. I love you to infinity and beyond J and we will be together again one day.”
Big Sister Mode Activated
“I was shocked that it had gotten that bad. When [he] said that he had put those two substances in his body, I was floored,” Hayden recalled exclusively to Us in May 2026 of learning Jansen had been doing crack and heroin before his death. “I was willing to do anything to make sure that he was OK. But you realize that you can’t love somebody out of a situation like that if they’re not ready or willing to heal.”
Hayden explained, “I got him into treatment. I had a standing appointment with his therapist [and] I tried to give them as much advice as I could in order to be able to reach my brother mentally and make him want to heal and get better. I tried to do everything in my power.”
She noted that Jansen “felt like he was caged” with the treatment, which left her wondering, “How do I not know how to help him?”
The Harsh Reality That He Was Gone
“I never saw myself having to live my life without him. It’s something that I wish I could tell people [that] you feel their presence and time heals your heart,” she told Us. “But … it’s still a struggle to combat the feeling of failure and guilt. I had to record the audio version of this book not too long ago, and that was the part that just broke me down. That’s a topic that is the most excruciating to me.”
Her ‘Other Half’
“There’s nothing in my life that feels like losing my other half, the other half that was born to be the ying to my yang,” Hayden shared during a May 2026 episode of “The Jay Shetty Podcast” through tears. “We were so close, and especially being the older sibling, it’s your job to protect them and keep them safe, and not being able to is — heartbreaking doesn’t even begin to cover it. I would need a dictionary to go through all the words for all the feelings that go through your mind.”
Hayden explained that her pain hadn’t subsided in the three years since his death, confessing, “Time is the best healer, generally, but it’s been three years and every year — it’s changed, the heartbreak has changed. But losing him and realizing how much of life I was going to have to go through alone and without him when I always saw him as being there.”
Her Initial Heartbreak Remained Fresh
“When he first died, I just remember screaming, ‘I don’t want to live in a world where he doesn’t exist,’ so I’ve unfortunately had to,” she admitted during the May 2026 podcast appearance. “But he seems so alive in my head still. He was such a big, big personality. He was just one of those people I never thought anything could take him down or take him away.”
Hayden shared, “He was so good, too, and it makes you so angry to see that there are bad people thriving in this world, and then one so good that’s just taken from you. Why? It’s not fair. It doesn’t make sense. I will never get over it. It will just evolve.”
He Was Her Protector
“I feel him with me,” Hayden told Jay Shetty of her late brother in May 2026. “I know that he’s protecting me from where he is and is needed elsewhere, but I wish they would send him back to me. He was my rock. He was the only other person who fully understood everything about me.”
Keeping His Memory Alive
The Scream IV actress depicted her dynamic with Jansen in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was released in May 2026.
Hayden revealed that she had her brother’s paintings as keepsakes following his death, writing, “While seeing his life’s work breaks my heart all over again, I’m grateful to have something of him to hold on to.”
She admitted, “Learning to live in a world where he doesn’t exist has often brought me to my knees, but he would want me to remember that death and loss are a part of life, but they allow rebirth if you let them.”
A Tribute to Jansen
Hayden concluded her May 2026 memoir with a tribute to her younger brother, writing, “Thank you for being here, Jansen, I thought. Thank you for making me laugh, telling me never to take myself too seriously, and for being my best friend, always.”
She also mentioned Jansen in the acknowledgments section, calling him “the heartbeat of my life, always right there, in the center of who I am.”
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