News
The untimely death of actress Hayden Panettiere has renewed conversations about the lack of protections offered to child stars in the film and TV industry.
Several celebrities have spoken out regarding the protection of child actors, including Rose McGowan, Anna Paquin and Melissa Gilbert, who are all calling for tighter regulations.
McGowan and Paquin shared tributes to Panettiere, the Heroes, Nashville and Scream star who died at age 36 on 16 August, with each commenting on the “profoundly sad” treatment of child actors.
“Rest in Power Hayden Panettiere. Don’t put kids in show business,” McGowan – who appeared in the Scream franchise, wrote on social media. “None of this is normal. May her spirit be free of those who orchestrated.”
Paquin, who won an Oscar at the age of 11 for her performance in The Piano and, coincidentally, also appeared in the Scream films, echoed that sentiment, writing: “It’s not a coincidence that so many former, specifically pre-sexualized female, child ‘stars’ have profoundly sad lives and untimely ends,” she wrote on Instagram. “We were not as protected by the ‘systems’ that look great on paper, as we are supposed to be.”
She continued: “RIP [Hayden Panettiere], [Michelle Trachtenberg], [Daveigh Chase] and too many others. It’s a strange small club we belong to and you are worthy of support no matter how our industry made us feel. Literally DM me. I believe you and I will stand by your side. You aren’t alone. Let’s have each other’s backs. It might make public disclosure less terrifying.”
Michelle Trachtenberg died aged 39 in February 2025, while Daveigh Chase died in July aged 35.
Paquin later clarified that she was speaking “very specifically about the experience as a child on set that finds themselves prematurely a ‘sex object’.”
She added: “I’m not implying damage is not done outside of the context of entertainment. But that is a longer post for a different moment. Also I used the women’s initials because I ran out of space. Nothing to be read into. Just logistics.”
Melissa Gilbert shared a post on Substack over the weekend, in which she asked: “How is it possible that no one in the mainstream media has picked up on this? Within one year, Michelle Trachtenberg, Daveigh Chase and Hayden Panettiere have died. DIED! Three former female child actors of the same generation are gone. Tragically, heartbreakingly, agonizingly too soon.”
“I did not know Hayden personally and only worked briefly with Mishy and Daveigh. It feels personal because I was them,” Gilbert wrote. “We are all members of the same tribe; Female Former Child Performers, and when one of us dies, it runs through all of us like an electrical current. When three of us die so close together, something is very, very wrong. We all know the stories of how the entertainment industry uses, abuses, exploits and then throws away it’s youngest, but for some reason, this trend is getting worse.”
She later added, “Where is our Union in all of this? Where is the collective outrage? Where are the regulations? Where is the protection of privacy?”
“It really seems like no one cares enough to enact real change. At least, not until the next death and everyone talks about how sad they are and how we must do something and then they forget and get on with their lives until it happens again and again and again,” Gilbert continued. “Yes, addiction is a real disease. Family dysfunction is real. PTSD is real. In actors, all those things are assets. They enable us to access emotion and share it with an audience. But when it comes through children, it should be treated tenderly, protectively, respectfully and in a way that is as limited as possible.”
Panettiere started working in Hollywood at a young age, appearing in the soap opera One Life to Live at just four years old before starring in 2000’s Remember the Titans at 10, among other projects.
Best known for her roles in the shows Heroes and Nashville, as well as the Scream films, Panettiere was found unresponsive in Greenville, South Carolina. A 911 dispatch audio referred to a suspected “overdose”. She was pronounced dead by first responders after they administered “advanced cardiac life support.”
An official cause of death has not been disclosed and an investigation into her death is ongoing.
