'Heroes' and 'Scream' star Hayden Panettiere dead at 36

This story was originally published on Them.Hayden Panettiere, the actress who starred in beloved television shows such as Nashville and Heroes before joining the Scream franchise for two installments, died on Sunday. No cause of death was immediately available, but authorities have already said that they don’t suspect foul play. She was 36 years old. A representative for Panettiere confirmed the actress’s death and her father Skip Panettiere, in a statement to media outlets, requesting privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss."“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said. “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”Earlier this year, Panettiere opened up about many aspects of her life when she released the memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, including postpartum depression, addiction, recovery, trauma, domestic abuse, and loss. In an interview with Us Weekly released just prior to the memoir, she came out as bisexual, saying that she had previously chosen not to share that aspect of herself for fear that it might be seen as joining a “fad.”“That’s something about me I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time,” she said. “It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. I was not encouraged to just be myself. Then came the period where it felt like people coming out, especially women, saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad.”She added that she was “afraid” of being seen as jumping “on a bandwagon.”“I wanted to make sure that I really sat down and chose my words carefully and was able to tell my story in an honest way, that people understood,” she told Us Weekly. “On one hand, it’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me