Hayden Panettiere's On-Off Boyfriend Was at Her Apartment When She Died

A police report released Tuesday reveals that Hayden Panettiere's on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were at the South Carolina apartment where the actor died over the weekend.

A Greenville police officer who responded to the residence on Sunday afternoon was met by the brothers and then observed paramedics performing CPR on an unresponsive woman. The officer noted that the patient did not appear to have any obvious physical reasons for being unresponsive. Despite lifesaving efforts, Panettiere was declared dead at 2:31 p.m.

The cause of death has not been determined, and the investigation remains ongoing. An autopsy found no signs of trauma, and police reported seeing no signs of foul play.

The onetime child star, known for her roles in "Heroes" and "Nashville," would have turned 37 on Friday. She had been open about her struggles with alcohol addiction and depression.

Panettiere and Brian Hickerson had a tumultuous relationship, with allegations that he physically abused her. In 2020, he was charged with multiple counts of felony abuse and pleaded no contest to two counts of injuring a spouse or partner. He served a short jail sentence and was given four years of probation, along with anger management and Alcoholics Anonymous sessions.

Hickerson completed the terms of his sentence and recently asked a judge to reduce his conviction to misdemeanors. That request was denied by a Los Angeles judge on Thursday.

The heavily redacted police report states that the responding officer first spoke with Zach Hickerson, who identified the unresponsive woman as his brother's girlfriend. The officer observed Zach to be very emotional while emergency workers attended to Panettiere, while Brian did not become emotional until she was officially declared deceased.

After the declaration, the brothers were escorted out of the apartment. Details of a subsequent conversation between the officer and Brian are redacted, as is a list of medications Panettiere had been taking.

In her memoir, "This Is Me," released in May, Panettiere wrote about her relationship with Hickerson and her decision to try to forgive him. She also detailed her lifelong struggles with early fame, alcohol addiction, and postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in 2014.

Panettiere's daughter, now 11, has lived full-time with her father, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, since she was 2. Panettiere had addressed misconceptions about this arrangement, stating she did not "give up" her child.

Panettiere also faced family tragedy with the death of her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, an actor who died of a heart condition in 2023 at age 28.