Former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, Hayden Panettiere's ex-fiancé and father of her 11-year-old daughter Kaya, shared a cryptic post on X on Sunday evening, just hours before the actress's death was confirmed. "Resilience is not about surviving the hit. It's about getting up and refusing to quit," Klitschko wrote.
Klitschko and Panettiere were together for nine years before their on-and-off relationship ended for good in 2018. After the split, Klitschko received full custody of Kaya amid Panettiere's battle with addiction to alcohol and pills, and the two moved to Ukraine.
Panettiere's representative confirmed her death with a statement: "It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. 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."
Panettiere was 36. Emergency services were called to an apartment complex where she was temporarily staying, according to officials. Dispatch audio reportedly mentioned a possible overdose, according to People magazine. Panettiere was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene after resuscitation efforts failed. An autopsy completed Monday found no signs of trauma, the Greenville County Coroner's Office said, and the cause of death remains under investigation.
Panettiere had struggled with postpartum depression and addiction. In a July interview with Momé magazine, she opened up about the near-death birth of her daughter, her postpartum depression, and the painful decision to give Klitschko custody. She said she chose to give her ex-fiancé custody because after she got healthy, she felt it would be selfish to pull Kaya away from the life she had created.
Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, told TMZ that she had given her daughter an ultimatum about her relationship with Brian Hickerson. Vogel also told TMZ that Hickerson was "toxic" and "culpable" in her daughter's death. Hickerson and his brother Zach reportedly administered Narcan and performed CPR after finding Panettiere unresponsive.