Hayden Panettiere’s costar is sharing insight into her struggles.
Justin Chatwin detailed his experience working with the actress in early 2025 on the movie Sleepwalker, which would become her final film when it came out in January 2026 before her death at the age of 36.
“Hayden seemed different when I met her this time than when I met her in the early years,” Chatwin told People in an interview published Aug. 17. “I’ve been sober for 15 years, so I know this world of addiction, and Hollywood—it takes, and it takes from youth.”
“I could tell she was struggling, and I was like, ‘I don’t think it’s this movie,’” he continued. “There’s a handful of women that I’ve worked with that I really liked, and I really loved working with her, but I also know that she was really lonely.”
Chatwin noted that Sleepwalkerfocused on heavy themes, which seemed to affect Panettiere due to her own past experience with domestic violence.
“We hit it off great and it was an awesome shoot, but it was about domestic abuse and it was subject matter that may have hit close to home, because she did mention it,” he said. “She opened up to me about a lot of things.”
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Hayden Panettiere Shared Heartbreaking Final Instagram Post Weeks Before Death at 36
And while Chatwin remembered his costar as an “amazing” and “sweet” person on set, he also highlighted what made her so special to talk to person-to-person outside of her fame.
“I really liked spending time with her because she took that off,” he added, “and she was authentic with me about her life and she opened up about her struggles with addiction.”
Panettiere died Aug. 16 after appearing to suffer from an overdose, according to an Emergency Medical Service worker heard on 911 audio obtained byPeople and TMZ. Police in Greenville, S.C., were called to a residence around 1:51 p.m. and found the actress experiencing cardiac arrest, according to a Greenville County Coroner’s Office statement obtained by E! News. She was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:32 p.m.
Panettiere’s fatherAlan “Skip” Panettierepubliclyshared news her death later that evening.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said in a statement toABC News. “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.”
Her official cause of death has not been shared.
Throughout her time in the spotlight, Panettiere never shied away from discussing the difficulties she faced, including struggles with alcohol use, opioid addiction and postpartum depression following the 2014 birth ofKaya, her daughter with ex-fiancéWladimir Klitschko.
Her postpartum depression was also why she gave upcustody of Kaya in 2018, when the then-4-year-old went to live in Europe with Klitschko, a Ukrainian boxer.
“I don’t ever want her to feel like the postpartum depression aspect was her fault in any way,” Panettiere shared with E! News in May. “I want her to take away that it’s OK to be imperfect and flawed, and you’ll actually realize that you’re not alone in any of your struggles and you don’t have to stay quiet and be sick like I was.”
Panettiere was hopeful that sharing her own experiences with postpartum depression and addiction would help others who were experiencing similar issues.
“I wish I knew about postpartum depression. I wish I knew to look out for it,” she admitted on E! News’The Rundownin 2023. “I just thought there was something seriously wrong with me, so I thought, ‘Fireball will fix this—duh!’ And it didn’t. It does for a moment, but then it makes everything worse.”
Her experience also led to a four-year hiatus from acting after she wrappedNashvillein 2018—returning to the screen in 2023’sScream VI.
“I had taken four years off. Didn’t know or plan to, but that’s just the way it panned out,” she recalled toUs Weeklyin 2025. “And I desperately needed it.”
“It’s healthy to continue to keep evolving as a person, which I always try to do to keep reinventing ourselves, learning more things about ourselves, our wants, needs, dislikes and all the above,” Panettiere added. “But I’ve never been this version of me. I’ve never been as OK with being who I am without feeling the need to apologize for anything. I feel like I’ve finally earned the right to an opinion.”
For a look back at Panettiere’s life in photos, keep reading.
