Jacq Harriet for The New York Times
The “Scream” actress opens up about reprising her role in the franchise, becoming sober and grieving the death of her brother.
Beacon Pictures
Hayden Panettiere has lived most of her life in the public eye. She landed her first gig in a commercial at 11 months old and was a child actor in films like “Remember the Titans” and “Bring It On: All or Nothing” and TV shows like “Guiding Light” and “Ally McBeal.”
Mark Levine/ABC
But in her private life, she struggled. When she was 18, her parents separated, and she ended up in the midst of an eight-year divorce battle. In 2014, while she was working on the TV show “Nashville,” she gave birth to a daughter, Kaya, and began suffering from postpartum depression. Panettiere said she turned to alcohol and opioids to self-medicate.
Mark Levine/ABC
Panettiere said that many of her real-life experiences were reflected in the show’s script while she was going through them, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. “Even if something was too much for me, I would never admit to it,” she said. “It was always about making them happy.”
Jacq Harriet for The New York Times
In 2021, Panettiere entered a treatment center for eight months. She has been sober for almost two years, now swapping substances for Peloton rides and organic meals.
Paramount Pictures, via Associated Press
Recently Panettiere found herself in survival mode once again, because of grief. About three weeks before the release of “Scream VI,” in which she reprises her character Kirby Reed, her brother, Jansen Rane Panettiere, died at 28 from heart complications.
Jacq Harriet for The New York Times
“I always see a few secret messages that maybe he meant to put there, maybe he didn’t,” she said of a canvas teeming with hidden words, which her brother had created for her. “His art, that was the thing that made him happiest.”