Gayle King claims Hayden Panettiere was 'clearly still struggling' 3 months before her death
CBS Mornings host Gayle King believes Hayden Panettiere was "clearly still struggling" when she interviewed the star three months before her tragic death, aged 36, despite the star telling her she was in a "good place".
Gayle King believes Hayden Panettiere was "clearly still struggling" when she interviewed the star three months before her death.
The Heroes and Nashville actress was found unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday, August 16, and pronounced dead, aged 36, after emergency crews attempted to resuscitate her.
In May, she was interviewed by King on CBS Mornings to promote her tell-all memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, and she told Gayle off-camera she was in a "good place".
Reflecting on the "heart-breaking news" of Hayden's passing, King said on CBS Mornings this week: "I felt so, so sad.
"It was hard when she was here that day.
"When she was here in the studio that day, and I was talking to her off-camera, she was saying she felt that she was in a good place."
Hayden is survived by her daughter Kaya, 11, who she shared with former fiancé and former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, 50.
Gayle says the youngster "meant everything" to the actress.
She added: "Her daughter meant everything to her, and giving up [custody of] her daughter to her dad was one of the hardest things, but she thought that was what was best for her daughter.
"But she was still, clearly still struggling.
"To wake up to hear this news was really tough."
Hayden had written extensively in her memoir about the circumstances surrounding Kaya living primarily with Wladimir, and the emotional impact of their separation, as well as about her estrangement from her mother, and the unexpected death of her only brother, Jansen Panettiere, aged 28.
In May, Hayden told Gayle she was the "rawest version of myself that I’ve ever been", and admitted she was "overwhelmed by the subject matter".
When asked by King how she was, Panettiere replied: "[I'm] still working on myself all the time ... I’m better, healthier than I’ve been in a long time."
Hayden’s family announced her death in a statement.
Her father, Alan "Skip" Panettiere, said: "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 onscreen."
An autopsy has since found no trauma contributing to her death, while the cause and manner remain undetermined pending further investigation.
