Hayden Panettiere 'struggled' with speech during final public appearance
An attendee at the event has recalled the actress becoming visibly upset while discussing her deeply personal memoir at a Los Angeles event less than three months before her death.
Hayden Panettiere appeared emotional and was reported to have struggled with her speech during what became her final public appearance – a Los Angeles book event less than three months before her sudden death at 36.
The Heroes and Nashville star appeared at the Harmony Gold Theater on May 26 to discuss and sign copies of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which had been published a week earlier.
Hayden was found unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday, August 16, and pronounced dead after emergency crews attempted to resuscitate her.
An autopsy has since found no trauma contributing to her death, while the cause and manner remain undetermined pending further investigation.
A source who attended the May event has now told Page Six: “Her speech appeared slow and slurred at times during the book signing.”
The attendee said Hayden also became visibly emotional while discussing some of the experiences detailed in her memoir, which covered her childhood in Hollywood, addiction, postpartum depression, abusive relationships and the death of her younger brother Jansen Panettiere, who died aged 28 in 2023.
According to Page Six’s source, organisers repeatedly told the audience not to record the event and subsequently prohibited photographs and videos as attendees approached Hayden during the signing.
The insider recalled when one attendee attempted to record Hayden, an organiser used a megaphone and said: “Don’t be rude.”
