Hayden Panettiere tears up in first interview since brother’s death
Hayden Panettiere got emotional during her first television interview since the death of her brother, Jansen Panettiere.
At the end of her “Good Morning America” interview to promote her new movie, “Scream VI,” host Michael Strahan offered her his condolences.
She nodded, starting to tear up, and replied, “He’s right here with me.”
Panettiere’s brother died on Feb. 19 at just 28 years old.
Last week, the family released a statement offering a sweet tribute to their loved one and an official cause of death.
“Jansen’s heart could be seen in his eyes, and his charm in his brilliant, engaging smile; his soul in his masterful and revealing paintings, and the joy of life in his dry wit,” his family, including his famous older sister and his father and mother Skip and Lesley, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Though it offers little solace, the Medical Examiner reported Jansen’s sudden passing was due to cardiomegaly (enlarged heart), coupled with aortic valve complications,” the statement continued.
It is unknown if the condition was known to the family or Jansen prior to his death. A previous report from police detailed that “there were no obvious signs of trauma.”
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Panettiere also appeared on the cover of Women’s Health magazine, with an interview conducted a month before her brother’s death.
In it, she noted that the house where the interview took place, one she purchased at 16 after landing her breakout role on “Heroes,” was the “last place my family all lived together.”
The 33-year-old opened up on her recent struggles with postpartum depression and substance abuse, and the difficult decision to give up custody of her daughter to her ex, Wladimir Klitschko.
She described her feelings of postpartum depression as “extreme hopelessness” and “like all the walls are closing in.”
Around that time, with her drinking already out of control, the actress also began taking opioids after an old neck injury flared up, and she alternated between alcohol and pills.
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After a stint in rehab, Panettiere found recovery difficult, as her character on “Nashville” was being written to have similar experiences.
“They wrote my character as having postpartum depression,” Panettiere said. “They wrote that she abandoned her child and went to a different country. And it was very difficult to go on-set and to act out these feelings about these things that I was truly going through in my real life.”
Her own daughter was in a similar situation, going back and forth between the U.S. and Ukraine with her father, Klitschko.
Panettiere eventually stepped back from the industry and focused on her health for the past four years.
She went back into a 12-step program and therapy, and revealed she also had a breast reduction last November.
“My body still didn’t feel like it belonged to me,” she said of the procedure. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with somebody who wants to tweak something if it makes them feel more confident. That’s all I have to say about it. My confidence is back.”
Despite her struggles, Panettiere plans to be open with her daughter in the future, and is “looking forward to the day where I get to have these conversations with her.”
Her newest movie, “Scream VI,” is in theaters this Friday.
