A close friend of Hayden Panettiere has revealed the final text message she sent him, following the actress's sudden death at the age of 36 in South Carolina on Sunday.
Musician Clayton Johnson, 37, shared a tribute video of the pair singing together and said her last message expressed a wish for "world peace."
"I spent last night trying to process, to try to find the right words, but there really aren't any," Johnson wrote. "More than anything, I hope you're at peace now and reunited with Jansen."
He continued: "It's been a couple of weeks since our last phone call, but the last thing you ever texted me was, 'Honestly, people think it's a joke to ask for world peace, but that would be me.'"
"That was you in a nutshell. I'm grateful I got to know you, and I'll always be grateful for the memories. Fly high, Hayden."
The Daily Mail has contacted Johnson for further comment.
Panettiere, who would have turned 37 on August 21, was found unresponsive in a Greenville apartment. She was pronounced dead at the scene following a suspected overdose.
She and her on and off boyfriend Brian Hickerson, a real estate agent who was previously jailed for abusing her, reportedly flew to South Carolina from Los Angeles the day before she died. Hickerson is originally from South Carolina.
Emergency response
Audio of a 911 call made at 1:51 pm on Sunday revealed a female dispatcher describing Panettiere as suffering a "cardiac arrest." A male dispatcher was later heard stating the actress had suffered a suspected overdose at the home.
Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 pm, just over 40 minutes after the initial call was made.
According to a Monday report from TMZ, the overdose reversal nasal spray Narcan was found on a mattress in the loft apartment where she had been staying temporarily. It remains unclear whether the spray was used in an attempt to revive her.
The Greenville County Coroner's Office confirmed an autopsy had been completed. A statement said Panettiere was found "unresponsive inside the residence, where she had been temporarily staying," and that "no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death."
The local police and sheriff's office said a "preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances."
Chief Deputy Coroner Shelton England told the Daily Mail it was too early to discuss the drug overdose theory. Investigators will carry out additional studies as they continue to work the case.
Mental health and addiction
Panettiere, who rose to fame playing Claire Bennet on the NBC series Heroes and Juliette Barnes on the ABC show Nashville, where she released a number of her own songs, had been open about her history of drug addiction. She said the dependency began when she was 15 years old, claiming she took "happy pills" to appear more "peppy" during interviews.
Her struggles worsened as she experienced postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter Kaya in 2014. The actress also revealed she nearly died during childbirth after hemorrhaging, which required surgery and seven blood transfusions to repair failing vessels.
"I closed my eyes and just prayed for my daughter to be OK. I truly was ready to go if it was my time," she previously said. "Kaya being safe and healthy was all that mattered."
Days later, Panettiere developed postnatal depression and recalled feeling "nothing" when looking at her daughter. She said she turned to wine to get through each day, which ultimately led to an alcohol dependency.
Although she underwent treatment, she felt the "root cause" of her drinking was the depression and that it was not addressed. "I wish more people had known what it was at the time. Maybe I wouldn't have waited so long to get help," she said.
In a 2022 interview, Panettiere said she had been sober in recent years but noted it was an "everyday battle."
"It's an everyday choice, and I'm checking in with myself all the time," she told People magazine. "But I'm just so grateful to be part of this world again, and I will never take it for granted again."
Custody decision
Panettiere gave full custody of her daughter to her former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko. Kaya, now 11, lives in Europe with her father.
In a recent episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, Panettiere said she "desperately" needed help at the time and insisted Kaya did not feel "abandoned."
"The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn't be further from the truth," she said.
"I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and postpartum and having to act my way through it, and just feeling like I completely lost myself," she added.
She said the decision to give Klitschko full custody was not made lightly. "It wasn't a decision I made lightly, nor was it a decision I even wanted to make," she said. "I was going through a really challenging time in my life... I knew I needed to be able to put her first so that I could get the help I needed and be the mum she needed me to be."
Speaking about her current relationship with her daughter, Panettiere said she had "been able to put her first no matter how I've felt or what I've experienced."
"I love my daughter, and I'm so proud of the young woman she is becoming. I talk to her all the time, and I feel so connected to her. She's like a mini-me," she said, expressing hope that Kaya would one day "understand my story and why I wasn't able to be with her all the time."
She called herself "resilient" and a "work in progress," adding that she was "doing the work... and doing my best."
In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, published in May, Panettiere detailed the separation from her only child.
"Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life, and it's hard to describe the layers of emotion, including sadness, resentment, and anger, I've felt because of it," she wrote.
"I grieve that I'm not the mother I thought I'd be and definitely not the mother I want to be (trust me, no one should ever have to raise a child on FaceTime), and although I miss Kaya so much my heart aches, I know how blessed I am to be her mom."
"She is the greatest gift of my life, with all the best parts of her father and me," she wrote.
