Less than two months ago, after finishing her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, I said of Hayden Panettiere:

Hopefully, as she approaches her forties, she’s able to maintain her family relationships and her career.

Unfortunately, she will never get that chance.  Panettiere died Sunday just days shy of her 37th birthday.

Panettiere was a child star, making her first on-screen appearance in a Playskool commercial at eleven months old.  I first was introduced to her work in 2001 when, at the age of 12, she joined the cast of Ally McBeal for its final season.  From there, she would star on Heroes and Nashville on television and movies such as Scream 4 and I Love You, Beth Cooper.

Panettiere is survived by her daughter, who will turn 12 in December, and her parents, with whom she had a complicated relationship.  Her younger brother died in 2023.