Former child star actress Hayden Panettiere dead at 36

AFP | Los Angeles

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Hayden Panettiere, a former child star actress who went on to play roles in the popular TV series “Heroes” and “Nashville,” has died aged 36. Her father confirmed the death in a statement to ABC News.

“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 on-screen,” he said.

Born in 1989, Panettiere’s credits include “Remember The Titans,” “Ice Princess,” “Scream 4” and “Scream VI.”

She’d worked in Hollywood all her life, appearing in commercials at just 11 months and winning a Grammy nomination for voicing the “Princess Dot” character in the 1998 movie “A Bug's Life” when she was nine.

Behind the successful career lay a dark personal history.

In a memoir released in May, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” she described the pressures of being a child star and her experiences with alcohol and opioid addiction and recovery.

Panettiere also spoke of estrangement from her mother, who managed her career as a child and criticized the book.

Paying tribute, actress Viola Davis, who starred alongside Panettiere in the 2016 movie “Custody,” referred to her struggles.

Davis called her “an old, wise soul with such a deep heart” and said “your tests became your testimony, and your testimony became your legacy.”

“I wish the world had more time with you because I had a burning curiosity about who you were becoming. I saw this beautiful Phoenix rising from the ashes,” she wrote on Instagram.