Months before her death at 36, Hayden Panettiere spoke about her memoir and mental health struggles. The ‘Heroes’ actor hoped her vulnerability would help others and said she wanted to direct to create a safe environment for young performers.
Hayden Panettiere was looking ahead and thinking about the kind of impact she wanted to leave behind just months before her death at 36. According to PEOPLE, the ‘Heroes’ and ‘Nashville’ actor, who died on Sunday, August 16, had spoken about her life, recovery and future plans while promoting her memoir ‘This Is Me: A Reckoning’ at a Los Angeles book event in May.
Hoping to Leave a Positive Impact
During the event, Panettiere spoke about people who had reached out to her after hearing her speak openly about her mental health struggles. She said some had told her that her story gave them the courage to seek help. “So many people have come up to me within the industry and outside of the industry and shared their stories with me and said, ‘Because you’ve talked about your mental health, it gave me the courage to be honest about mine and get myself help, and you saved my life,'” she said.
Panettiere said hearing such stories made it worth sharing some of the difficult parts of her own life. She added that she hoped her experiences could have a positive impact on others. “And I was like, this is worth it,” she said. “I can hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it,” she added. “The strength is in our vulnerability.”
Future Career Aspirations
The actor was also looking at what she wanted to do next in her career. When asked about her future plans, Panettiere said she had “a laundry list” of things she wanted to try. “I would love to direct,” she said.
She also spoke about wanting to create a safe working space for actors, drawing from her own years in Hollywood. Panettiere began working as a child and said she had seen how much was sometimes expected from young performers. “I really wanna direct and be that person that creates a safe environment for actors and be like, this is the experience you’re supposed to have,” she said. “I would love to produce.”
Panettiere also said she was trying her hand at writing and wanted to explore more creative work instead of always waiting for acting roles.
Creating a Safe Environment for Actors
Speaking about young actors, she said adults do not always understand what they are asking children to handle emotionally. “People don’t always understand what they’re asking of young actors emotionally,” she said. “I remember having to advocate for younger performers and stepping in when people expected too much from them,” Panettiere continued. “I become very protective.”
“If somebody’s pushing a child too hard, that’s when I start growling.”
Reflections from Her Memoir
In her memoir, Panettiere also wrote about the difficult periods in her life, including addiction, postpartum depression, treatment, her custody arrangement with former partner Wladimir Klitschko and the death of her younger brother Jansen in 2023. However, she made it clear that she did not want these experiences to define her.
“I never want to stop evolving and changing for the better, and I’ll forever be a work in progress,” she wrote in her book. “But one thing I know from my thirty-six years in the public eye is this: Life is a process that evolves day by day, year by year, and–like it or not–you are engaged in a cycle of growth until the moment you take your last breath.”
Panettiere also described the difficult moments in her life as “lifequakes”, saying they could bring pain but also give people a chance to rebuild. “Life can shake you up and tear you down, but even when you’re at your worst, there’s hope, and you have an opportunity to rebuild,” she wrote.
On Recovery and Industry Pressure
During the May event, she also spoke about her recovery and the pressure she felt while growing up in the entertainment industry. “For a long time it wasn’t healthy,” she said of her recovery process. “I wasn’t checking in with myself.”
“I was trained from such a young age to be perfect, be prepared, don’t ask questions and just keep going,” she continued. “Eventually I reached a point where I was so emotional and so overwhelmed that I was trying anything to make it okay.”
When asked what she wanted readers to take away from her memoir, Panettiere kept her answer simple. “Strength. Humility,” she said. “And knowing that it’s okay to be human.”
Panettiere is survived by her parents and her daughter. (ANI)
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