Hayden Panettiere Co-Star Reveals Heartbreaking Details From Final Film

Justin Chatwin saw a different side of Hayden Panettiere while filming her final movie.

The actor said Panettiere opened up about addiction, trauma and loneliness when they worked together on “Sleepwalker,” the psychological thriller released in January before her sudden death at 36.

The two actors had initially crossed paths during Panettiere’s run on the NBC superhero series “Heroes.” Nearly two decades later, they reconnected on the set of “Sleepwalker,” which was filmed during the winter of 2025.

“We hit it off great and it was an awesome shoot, but it was about domestic abuse and it was subject matter that may have hit close to home, because she did mention it. She opened up to me about a lot of things,” Chatwin says.

Panettiere played a woman reeling from the death of her daughter in a car crash. Chatwin said the movie’s grim subject matter appeared to carry a personal weight for his co-star.

“Hayden seemed different when I met her this time than when I met her in the early years,” Chatwin says. “I’ve been sober for 15 years, so I know this world of addiction, and Hollywood — it takes, and it takes from youth.”

Panettiere had long been candid about her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression.

Actress Hayden Panettiere was confirmed dead on Monday, with authorities saying a preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play.

Excerpts of a 911 call showed dispatchers discussing an “overdose” as medics responded to an unresponsive woman at a South… pic.twitter.com/rwSPBjqgjg

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 18, 2026

She was also the mother of 11-year-old Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, whom she shared with former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko. Panettiere gave Klitschko full custody of their daughter in 2018 while she was struggling with addiction and postpartum depression.

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Her return to acting began with 2023’s “Scream VI,” her first on-screen appearance since the ABC drama “Nashville” ended in 2018. She went on to appear in three additional movies, including “Sleepwalker.”

Panettiere had previously lent her voice to the video game “Until Dawn.”

“I could tell she was struggling, and I was like, ‘I don’t think it’s this movie,’” Chatwin says. “There’s a handful of women that I’ve worked with that I really liked, and I really loved working with her, but I also know that she was really lonely.”

Chatwin said Panettiere discussed her experience in rehab and the “struggles that she’s had with trauma” early in the production of “Sleepwalker.”

Those battles also became part of Panettiere’s memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” published in May. The actress came out as bisexual and detailed her experiences with addiction and trauma dating back to her teenage years.

Chatwin said Panettiere maintained her professionalism on set, but he also got to know the person behind the performance.

“I’m sure that everyone else is going to say ‘Oh, she’s amazing. She’s such a sweet person on set,’ because she was,” he adds. “But we’re trained to be actors, so we’re acting on set, you know? And she is sweet. She had a beautiful heart. But we’re trained to be on, and I really liked spending time with her because she took that off, and she was authentic with me about her life and she opened up about her struggles with addiction. And who knows where it comes from? Does it come from Hollywood? Does it come from home? And a lot of times, it’s both.”

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