Hayden Panettiere shared a joyful Instagram post with a friend approximately three weeks before her death. The 36-year-old actor captioned a black-and-white photo of her smiling alongside her friend Randall Slavin with “Good times and good friends.”
Slavin told TMZ that the photo was taken about 15 years ago at a party and that he and Panettiere had not seen each other in some time before her passing.
The actor died in South Carolina on Sunday, days before her 37th birthday on Friday. Her father, Alan “Skip” Panettiere, released a statement to ABC News mourning his daughter’s “tragic passing.”
“She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” he said.
After Panettiere’s death was announced, Slavin reposted the photo on his Instagram story, writing, “Peace be with you, H.”
In recent years, Panettiere had been open about her struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, as well as postpartum depression. She stated that a member of her team began giving her “happy pills” when she was 15, which were intended to make her more energetic during interviews. Panettiere revealed in a 2022 interview with People magazine that she was unaware this was inappropriate or the gateway it would become for her addiction.
The “Nashville” star wrote in her recently released memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” about undergoing an eight-month rehabilitation program in 2020. A doctor at the facility informed her that she would likely die within five years if she did not stop drinking.
While promoting her memoir, Panettiere expressed optimism for her future, telling Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast in May, “I finally feel like I have shaken off all of this darkness and this negativity. I can feel all the exciting possibilities. I feel like I have a lot more life to live.”