After unexpectedly losing her younger brother in 2023, life for actress Hayden Panettiere changed drastically in ways beyond mourning.
In her first interview since, the 35-year-old opened up about the sudden death of her 28-year-old brother, Jansen, from an undiagnosed heart condition.
His death came at a time when Panettiere was making a career comeback after struggling with substance and alcohol addiction and emerging from a tumultuous and highly-publicized breakup.
“I remember saying to somebody—and it hadn’t even been a year—and I was like, ‘Don’t ever, ever expect me to get over the loss of him.’ Because, no matter how many years go by, he will always be beside me,” she said.
“I will always be heartbroken about it. I'll never be able to get over it.”
The “Scream” actress was clean and sober after spending time at an in-patient rehab facility in 2020 before entering a 12-step trauma therapy program the following year.
However, the intense grief she felt, contributed to a setback that affected her both mentally and physically.
“I had to see horrific paparazzi pictures of myself coming out of Jansen’s funeral, which happened in a very private place, and it was shocking … my agoraphobia came out, which is something I’ve struggled with in the past,” she said.
Panettiere said that she was so deeply affected by “stress and cortisol,” that it visibly reflected on her and within days she became nearly unrecognizable.
Reactions to Grief
Kenneth J. Doka is the senior vice president for grief programs at the Hospice Foundation of America and says what Panettiere experienced coincides with what medical professionals call typical or uncomplicated grief reactions.“In a very individual way, grief is manifested physically. So, you know, in terms of emotions, in terms of conditions, in terms of behavior, in terms of spirituality, it affects virtually every dimension of our life,” he told The Epoch Times.
He notes there are many stages to grief and it can also come in more complicated forms.
“You name it, it [grief] can affect every aspect of our physical being … grief is really a stress reaction. And stress is bad for one’s health. And especially when you’re older, you know that stress can be deadly, literally ... and one of the other things is that it often changes our lifestyle patterns,” he said.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to treatment, because grieving is not directly associated with death but rather a significant loss that affects a person, no matter what that might be.
Doka says with therapy and grieving strategies, like assessing your strengths and weaknesses of what coping mechanism has worked or hasn’t worked in the past, one can overcome their grief.
“For some people support groups can be very helpful as a strategy because they'll validate you and they’ll put you in an association of people who can be supportive. They help you cope with some of the everyday problems that you have with grief,” he said.
Meanwhile, Panettiere decided to take matters into her own hands and has since recovered with the help of a personal trainer. The endorphins she received through burning fat helped improve her mood and was her own version of therapy.
“My body just started reacting, not just from the working out. It allowed me to release the stress, the high expectations I’d always put on myself,” she said.
The “Bring It On: All or Nothing” star says she now has a different outlook on life after her brother’s death, adding that while time does heal wounds it also makes you question and come face-to-face with reality.
“When something that massive has happened to you, you really learn to pick your fights and just not let the little things upset you. Because once something so, so horrific, so, so deep, so, I mean catastrophic happens in your life, there’s not much that can really rock you.”
Panettiere is now gearing up for the release of her new film “Amber Alert” which hits theaters Sept. 27.
