Hayden Panettiere Dies at 36

Hayden Panettiere, the actress behind Claire Bennet on Heroes, Juliette Barnes on Nashville and Kirby Reed in the Scream movies, has died at 36.

CBS News reported Monday that Panettiere’s publicist confirmed her death after she was found unresponsive Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina.

There are already reports circulating about a possible overdose. People, citing emergency dispatch audio, reported that responders referenced an overdose and cardiac arrest. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office has not announced an official cause of death, however, and police have said they found no indication of foul play.

Panettiere had spoken publicly for years about addiction, alcohol and opioid use, treatment and depression, so it’s understandable that her history is becoming part of the conversation around her death. It also makes it especially important not to turn an unconfirmed possibility into the headline before the coroner finishes the investigation.

For a lot of us, Panettiere wasn’t somebody who suddenly became famous. She was just kind of there while we were growing up, in many familiar titles: A Bug’s Life, Remember the Titans, Heroes, Nashville, Scream. Watching somebody you’ve seen on-screen since childhood die at 36 lands differently.

The official cause of death remains under investigation.