How Did Hayden Panettiere’s Brother Jansen Panettiere Die

Hayden Panettiere wished she could have been her brother’s hero.

Two months before the Heroes star died on Aug. 16 at 36, she shared a vulnerable glimpse into her grief following her brother Jansen Panettiere‘s unexpected death.

“It just evolves,” she said during an exclusive interview with E! News in May, “and especially with a sibling and being the older sibling, you’re just riddled with guilt that you didn’t do your job, and especially what took him was something that I, of all people, should have understood.”

That’s why, when she sat down to write her 2026 memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, she said, “the hardest part was talking about my brother.”

Jansen died in February 2023 at the age of 28 due to cardiomegaly (enlarged heart), coupled with aortic valve complications, the Panettiere family told E! News in a statement at the time. 

And while the Bring It On alum knew her brother’s passing was out of her control, she continued to feel the weight of his loss up until her death.