By her own account, the late actor Hayden Panettiere led a tragic life up until her death on Sunday at the age of 36.

Panettiere, best known for roles in Nashville, Heroes, and the Scream films, wrote in her recent memoir that she only knew of an existence in front of the camera; she had appeared in her first commercial at just 11 months old and had been in 50 more by the time she was 5. She landed a voice role in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life at the age of 9, broke out in Remember the Titans two years later, recorded singles for Disney Channel and landed parts in Kingdom Hearts games soon after, then cemented herself as a star in 2006’s Heroes. By then she was just 17.

In the years to come, she’d star in bigger shows like Nashville and fall victim to drugs, alcohol, and the pain of public scrutiny. She would eventually marry Ukrainian heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko, 14 years her senior, give birth to a daughter, then lose custody of her child amid struggles with postpartum depression. In interviews around the release of her memoir, she also detailed another relationship that ended in domestic violence abuse, and the profound effect her brother’s death in 2023 had on her familial relationships. But upon the release of her memoir, it sounded like self-reflection had led to her turning the corner; she was out confronting the tumultuous arc of her life as recently as May 2026, just months before she died.

It’s impossible to say, and perhaps a little gauche, to imagine how changes in Panettiere’s career could have prevented the all-too-early end of her life. But in this final moment, it’s hard to see her as someone who ever lived her own way, had the freedom to make her own choices, never having to cater to demands of “fans” or peering tabloid cameras. Seeing her back on screen in Scream 6 was a joy — a reminder of her forceful screen presence and a reason to think she was starting a new act on her own terms. She was a survivor, her memoir press tour made that clear, and she was lining up projects for the future. We don’t know exactly what happened yet, but we do know that 36 years working as a child actor led to this tragic moment.

Does Hollywood do enough for the young people it inducts into its business? I wonder today, upon hearing of Panettiere’s death, and wondered in June when we learned child actor Daveigh Chase, voice of Lilo and star of The Ring, had battled........

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