Hayden Panettiere’s daughter will be raised to remember her mother’s “immense talent” and “incredible career”, according to a tribute posted on social media on Tuesday by Wladimir Klitschko, the ex-lineal world heavyweight boxing champion and the late Hollywood actor’s former partner.
Their daughter, Kaya, has been raised by the Ukrainian retired boxer since 2018, when Panettiere ceded full custody to concentrate on her battles with alcoholism, depression and substance abuse.
Her death in Greenville, South Carolina, was reported on Sunday, with no cause given.
“Our family is going through a time of profound shock and grief,” Klitschko wrote in the Instagram post, which featured a photograph of himself and Panettiere smiling at a beach, with Kaya – whose face is obscured – perched on her mother’s shoulders.
“The announcement of Hayden’s tragic death saddens me deeply. She left this world far too soon. Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya.”
The message also referenced the troubles that the Nashville and Heroes actor had experienced at a young age, following a succession of child stars who faced later challenges or tragedy.
“She built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry,” Klitschko wrote of Panettiere. “Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives.
“To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.”
Klitschko also sent his condolences to Panettiere’s grieving parents, friends and fans.
“Young and talented people like Hayden should not leave this world so soon,” he wrote. “I ask everyone to please respect our family’s feelings and privacy during this incredibly difficult time. For now, this is all I wish to say.
“Rest easy, Hayden. May you find eternal peace.”
In May, Panettiere expressed hope that she would one day be reunited with her daughter, who was born in 2014.
“I will always want her here. I always miss her,” she told podcaster Jay Shetty in an emotional interview.
“I always want to have my arms wrapped around her, but that’s just not the way life is right at this moment … I have faith that she is going to come to me and that we’re going to have an incredible relationship and bond and friendship that a lot of parents don’t get to have with their kids.”
Klitschko and Panettiere met at a book launch party in 2009, when the actor, then aged 20, was already a television star for her appearances as fictional high school cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes. After first splitting in 2011, they remained close friends and became engaged in 2013. Panettiere gave birth to Kaya a year later.
The actor struggled with postpartum depression, and the couple split for good in 2018, with Kaya spending time with her father at residences in Florida and Europe, E! News reported at the time.
Panettiere then had an on-again, off-again relationship with Brian Hickerson. NBC News on Tuesday said it had obtained a police report that said Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were at the scene inside the apartment complex where Panettiere died.
The report said Hickerson showed police “a bag of medication” that Panettiere was taking at the time of her death, according to the outlet.
Panettiere’s relationship with Hickerson was marred by domestic abuse allegations. He was arrested multiple times and reportedly jailed in 2021 after pleading no contest to domestic abuse charges.
