news

Hayden Panettiere breaks silence on death of Jansen’s younger brother

Vaseline September 19, 2024

Hayden Panettiere opens up about the death of his younger brother Jansen Panettiere.

In an interview with People magazine published Wednesday, the Nashville alumna spoke candidly about the loss of Jansen, who died last year at age 28 from an undiagnosed heart condition.

“He was my only brother and it was my job to protect him,” Panettiere told People. “When I lost him, it felt like I lost half my soul.”

Her younger brother’s death came at the beginning of a career comeback for Panettiere. She was out of an on-again, off-again relationship with her ex following a highly publicized breakup, and sober after a years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction, including time spent in an inpatient rehabilitation center in early 2020, People reports.

Panettiere also spent time in rehab while filming the fourth season of “Nashville” in 2015. In 2021, she entered a 12-step program and began trauma therapy.

Hayden Panettiere and family mourn ‘Brilliant’ Jansen Panettiere, Reveals His Cause of Death

“I had to see horrible paparazzi photos of myself coming out of Jansen’s funeral, which was in a very private place, and it was shocking,” she told People. “My agoraphobia came up, which is something I’ve struggled with in the past.” Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder in which you fear and avoid places or situations that trigger feelings of panic and feeling trapped, helpless or ashamed, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Panettiere gained weight and “just swelled up,” she told People . She said she “didn’t have the confidence to put clothes on and leave the house, but I also knew I had to get out there and keep moving, otherwise I was going to look and feel like this forever.”

She called the period “a destructive hamster wheel of ‘Am I feeling good enough to go out?'” but the star recovered during long walks with personal trainer Marnie Alton, who she was introduced to by her publicist. She told People that Alton “empowered” her with “these long, beautiful walks where we could vent and it would be this therapy session.”

Panettiere told People that she has a new outlook on life after the loss of her brother.

“When something so big happens to you, you really learn to pick your battles and not let the little things get to you,” she said in the People interview. “Because once something so terrible, so profound, so catastrophic happens in your life, there’s not a lot that can really hurt you.”

She continued: “I will always be sad about it. I will never get over it. No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss.”

Jansen Panettiere died ‘suddenly’, family says

When Jansen died, Panettiere’s parents Lesley Vogul and Skip Panettiere said in a statement that his “sudden death was the result of cardiomegaly (enlarged heart) combined with aortic valve complications.”

“It is with great sadness that we share the enormous, untimely loss of our beautiful Jansen,” the family said.

Cardiomegaly has several causes, with high blood pressure being one of the most common, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some people may not experience any signs or symptoms, while others may experience shortness of breath, an irregular heartbeat, or swelling of the abdomen or legs.