Hayden Panettiere’s Final Interviews Focused on Hope, Motherhood and Mental Health

Hayden Panettiere’s final media appearances centered on a message she had shared throughout her career: people struggling with mental health are not alone, and there is strength in asking for help.

In the months before her death, announced by her father on Sunday, August 16, Panettiere had been promoting her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. The book details some of the most difficult periods of her life, including struggles with alcoholism, depression and abusive relationships.

One of her final interviews appeared on the July cover of Momé, a parenting publication. Panettiere spoke openly about motherhood, her mental health and the difficult decisions she made while raising her daughter, Kaya.

Panettiere described Kaya’s birth as a life-threatening experience and also discussed her battle with postpartum depression. She spoke candidly about the painful decision for Kaya, now 11, to primarily live with her father, former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

“I’ve been able to put her first no matter how I’ve felt or what I’ve experienced,” Panettiere said. She added that she hoped that “one day she’ll understand my story, and why I wasn’t able to be with her all the time.”

Despite everything she had experienced, Panettiere said she viewed herself as someone still moving forward.

“I’m a work in progress — we all are. I take each day as it comes. I’m doing the work, and I’m doing my best,” she said.

She ended the interview with a message aimed at mothers facing difficult moments of their own: “You’re stronger than you know. And you’re going to be just fine.”

Just weeks earlier, on May 26, Panettiere appeared at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles for a book signing and panel discussion. There, she reflected on the impact her openness about mental health had had on other people.

Panettiere recalled meeting people from both inside and outside the entertainment industry who told her that speaking publicly about her struggles had encouraged them to seek help.

“They 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.

Those conversations gave Panettiere a sense of purpose.

“I was like, This is worth it. I can hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it,” she said.

Panettiere began working as an actress at just 4 years old, appearing on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live before moving on to Guiding Light. She later appeared in films and television shows including A Bug’s Life, Remember the Titans, Ally McBeal, Malcolm in the Middle, Tiger Cruise and Ice Princess.

Her breakthrough came when she was 16, when she was cast as cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC’s hit series Heroes. Her character became one of the show’s most recognizable figures thanks to her ability to heal from injuries.

Panettiere later starred opposite Connie Britton in the musical drama Nashville, which ran from 2012 to 2018.

After stepping away from acting for several years, she returned to the screen in Scream 6 in 2023. She subsequently appeared in Amber Alert in 2024 and A Breed Apart in 2025. Her final film role was in Sleepwalker, which was released in theaters in January.

In her last months in the public eye, Panettiere spoke less about fame and more about survival, motherhood and recovery. Her final interviews showed an actress determined to turn painful experiences into something that could help others.