Actress Hilary Duff has added her voice to the wave of tributes for Hayden Panettiere, who died suddenly on Sunday 16 August at the age of 36. In a heartfelt Instagram post on Tuesday, Duff recalled the friendship the pair struck up in the 2000s as young Hollywood stars, saying she would remember Panettiere as "hardworking and effervescent" despite having lost touch with her over the years. The tribute adds to an already substantial outpouring from figures including Mariska Hargitay, Solange, Rosie O'Donnell, Jeremy Piven, Beverley Mitchell, Justin Chatwin and Panettiere's ex-husband Wladimir Klitschko.

New reporting has also emerged on the circumstances of her death: the New York Times reported on Tuesday that Panettiere's fatal cardiac arrest was induced by an apparent drug overdose, after she was found in cardiac arrest at her South Carolina home and could not be resuscitated. Best known for roles in Heroes and Nashville, she died days before her 37th birthday and is survived by her father, Skip, estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, and daughter, Maya. Her death comes three years after that of her brother, Jansen, who died in February 2023 aged 28; her father described her in a statement as "an incredible light and a force of nature".