finding peace after loss

THE NASHVILLE ACTRESS'S YOUNGER BROTHER DIED UNEXPECTEDLY JUST AS SHE WAS WORKING TO OVERCOME DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. HOW SHE'S PICKING UP THE PIECES, STAYING SOBER AND DOING HER BEST TO LOOK FORWARD

- GILLIAN TELLING

Hayden Panettiere finally felt like she was back on top of the world. In 2022 the Amber Alert actress, now 35, was sober after years of struggling with drugs and alcohol, and thrilled that her daughter Kaya, 9, was thriving in her new life in Europe, where she lived full-time with her dad, Ukrainian boxing pro Wladimir Klitschko. The former child star also was coming out of a "very dark time" during an abusive on-and-off relationship and was grateful to be back to work on Scream 6. Then the unthinkable happened: Three weeks before the Scream 6 premiere in February 2023, her younger brother Jansen died unexpectedly from an undiagnosed enlarged heart condition at 28 years old. Panettiere was shattered. "He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him," she says, choking back tears. "When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul."

Compounding her grief, Panettiere's body physically reacted to the shock, and within days she became virtually unrecognizable. "I just ballooned out," she says of the rapid weight gain she experienced. She felt agoraphobic and retreated from the public. “I didn't feel confident to put on clothes and get out of the house, but I also knew that I needed to get out and keep moving or I'd never stop looking and feeling this way." She pulled herself out of the darkness with the help of a trainer and life coach, landed her next movie role and now feels her life is back on track. "I'm feeling so much happier," she says.