Hayden Panettiere died after taking pill laced with fentanyl, report says

Hayden Panettiere took a pill that was allegedly laced with fentanyl on the day she died, according to a report.

The actress, who died at the age of 36 in Greenville, South Carolina, last month. allegedly took oxycodone laced with fentanyl, sources told TMZ. 

Just a few grains of the powerful opioid, which is 50 times stronger than heroin, can cause a fatal overdose. 

The mother-of-one bought several black-market prescription drugs, including oxycodone, from a ‘long-time drug dealer’ she had in Los Angeles, the outlet reported.

The star and her on-off real estate agent boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, had flown from the city to South Carolina, where he is from, one day before she died. 

Hayden Panettiere, who died aged 36 in South Carolina last month, had taken a pill that was allegedly laced with fentanyl, according to a report

The actress had been open about her difficulties dealing with fame, especially as a child star, in the months before her death

TMZ reported that the actress took several drugs she purchased in Los Angeles on the flight. Authorities allegedly believe the pill she took the morning of her death was laced. 

Hickerson gave Panettiere a dose of Narcan, a medicine that quickly reverses an opioid overdose, after finding her unresponsive.  

Police are now trying to trace the fatal pill back to the person who allegedly sold it to her, according to reports. 

At this time, no one has been arrested in connection with Panettiere’s death. Hickerson reportedly met with investigators from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last week as they continued their probe into her death.

The DEA’s involvement aligns with paramedics reporting a suspected overdose over dispatch calls. First responders located Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, inside the apartment where Panettiere was found dead.

The actress’s death came after a long struggle with alcohol and opiates, which saw her spend eight months in rehab in 2020 after contracting jaundice. She wrote in her memoir that a doctor her she would be ‘dead within five years’ if she didn’t stop drinking.

Hickerson was at the scene along with his brother Zachary when she was pronounced dead, according to a police report.

Panettiere with her on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson in Los Angeles in December 2018 

The actress landed her first acting job when she was just 11 months old

The Hollywood star, known for her role in the NBC series Heroes, leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter

Zachary was arrested at the weekend for disorderly conduct over a bar fight after he and his brother were reportedly heckled over Panettiere’s death. He was released on bond on Sunday.

Over the course of their turbulent relationship, Panettiere’s boyfriend Hickerson faced multiple domestic violence charges, and in 2021 he served 13 days in custody for injuring her.

After she was declared dead, he is said to have handed the authorities a ‘bag of medication’ she had been taking, per the police report.

Detectives confirmed to the Daily Mail that they responded to an apartment block in Greenville after they received a 911 call from an ‘acquaintance’ of Panettiere, describing her as ‘unresponsive’.

In the dispatch audio of the call made at 1.51pm, a female dispatcher described Panettiere as suffering a ‘cardiac arrest.’ A few moments later, a male dispatcher could be heard saying that she had suffered a suspected overdose.

Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said that the actress’s autopsy had been completed and that no signs of trauma were found on the star’s body. 

The former child star was known for her role as cheerleader Claire Bennet on the hit NBC series Heroes and Juliette Barnes in Nashville.

Her appearance in the musical drama saw her receive two nominations for best supporting actress at the 2013 and 2014 Golden Globes.

At the weekend, a witness said Brian and Zach Hickerson were heckled about Panettiere’s death before Zach was arrested outside a South Carolina bar. He has been released on bond

The actress’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, died in February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’

Panettiere also appeared in the Scream franchise as Kirby Reed, and lent her voice to the video games Until Dawn and Kingdom Hearts. 

Her brother Jansen died in February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’ at the age of 28.

Panettiere said that she felt like she ‘lost half of her soul’ following his death, and revealed that the stress of his loss resulted in her body ‘ballooning out,’ which left her in a ‘really bad’ and ‘destructive’ place.

It comes just months after her memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, became a New York Times bestseller. In the book, Panettiere described how she contended with fame and handled the difficulties in her life.  

She had suffered from drug addiction, beginning when she was just 15 years old. At the time, she claimed she started taking ‘happy pills’ in an effort to make her seem more ‘peppy’ during interviews.

Her addiction then became worse while she was battling postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter Kaya in 2014.