Actress Hayden Panettiere had plans to visit her daughter, Kaya, in Ukraine before her death on Sunday, according to her hairstylist and friend Erick Orellana.
"She was talking about how she wanted to take a vacation, and that she wanted to go and see her daughter. Her daughter was always her absolute priority. She loved her so much," Orellana told Page Six.
Kaya, 11, has lived in Ukraine with her father, Panettiere's ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, since 2018. Panettiere had given up custody of Kaya during her struggles with postpartum depression and addiction.
Orellana, who had worked with Panettiere for three years, emphasized the actress's deep affection for her daughter, stating that Kaya was "the absolute light of her life" and that Panettiere "lit up when she spoke about her."
"Everything she did revolved around her," he added. Orellana expressed disbelief at the idea that Panettiere would have left her daughter willingly, suggesting her death was likely accidental given her devotion to Kaya.
In a May interview on the "On Purpose" podcast with Jay Shetty, Panettiere discussed her relationship with Kaya. "I go travel as much as I can. I see her. I do spend a lot of time on FaceTime with her, but we talk about really deep things," she said at the time. She also denied rumors of abandonment, calling the idea "heartbreaking" and "couldn't be further from the truth."
"The fact that my child wasn’t going to be with me all day, every day was … you can’t put words to it," Panettiere had shared, describing the intense feelings associated with their separation.
Orellana also described Panettiere as being "super happy" and "so positive" in the period leading up to her death, noting she had a supportive group of friends in Los Angeles.
"She had really good friends here in LA. It was a small group of people, but they were also supportive of her," he explained. "And she loved spending time with them."
He further characterized Panettiere as a "kind and encouraging friend" with an "infectious energy."
Panettiere's father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death in a statement Sunday, calling her "an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her." He requested privacy for the family.
Paramedics responded to a South Carolina apartment on Sunday following a report of an "unidentified female" in "cardiac arrest." According to 911 dispatch audio obtained by Page Six, CPR was in progress for an apparent overdose, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. TMZ reported that Narcan was found at the scene, though it is unclear if Panettiere had received it.
The day before her death, Panettiere had traveled from Los Angeles to the South with her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson.```jsonjson{json