Hayden Panettiere had planned to visit her daughter, Kaya, in Ukraine before her tragic death at the age of 36 on Sunday afternoon.
âI last saw her a few months ago,â the âHeroesâ alumâs hairstylist and good friend Erick Orellana exclusively told Page Six Monday.
âShe was talking about how she wanted to take a vacation, and that she wanted to go and see her daughter. Her daughter was always her absolute priority. She loved her so much.â
Orellana, who has worked with Panettiere for three years, emphasized that the latter âloved spending timeâ with Kaya, 11, and would always show off the pre-teenâs photos and tell him stories about her.
âHer daughter was the absolute light of her life,â the stylist continued. âShe lit up when she spoke about her. Everything she did revolved around her.â
Speaking about Panettiereâs heartbreaking passing, Orellana added, âI canât imagine that this is anything but accidental because she just loved her daughter and would never have left her.â
Kaya has lived in Ukraine with her father, who is Panettiereâs ex-fiancĂ©, Wladimir Klitschko, since 2018, when the âScream 4â star gave up custody amid her battle with postpartum depression and addiction.
The âIce Princessâ star had maintained an amicable relationship with Klitschko, whom she dated from 2009 to 2018. She also recently gushed over her and Kayaâs âreally intense, incredible bondâ leading up to her death.
âI go travel as much as I can. I see her. I do spend a lot of time on FaceTime with her, but we talk about really deep things,â she told Jay Shetty on the âOn Purposeâ podcast in May.
During the same episode, Hayden denied rumors that she abandoned her daughter, saying, âI mean, the idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be OK with it is heartbreaking. Couldnât be further from the truth.â
âThat was incredibly difficult,â she continued. âThe fact that my child wasnât going to be with me all day, every day was ⊠you canât put words to it. Itâs just a really intense feeling or multiple feelings really layered together.â
Additionally, Orellana told Page Six that Panettiere was âsuper happyâ leading up to her death and was âso positive.â
âShe had really good friends here in LA. It was a small group of people, but they were also supportive of her,â he explained. âAnd she loved spending time with them.â
The beauty guru described Panettiere as a âkind and encouraging friend,â saying, âshe was always so positive, and always so happy when a friend had good news.â
âShe would always want to celebrate her friends in every single way she could,â he emotionally shared. âShe laughed a lot. She had the most infectious energy.â
Similar to others, Orellana explained he was âin complete and utter shockâ over the actressâs unexpected passing.
Haydenâs father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death to Page Six via a statement on Sunday, writing, âShe was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her â and to the millions who watched her on-screen. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.â
Earlier in the day, paramedics had responded to a South Carolina apartment regarding a call about an âunidentified femaleâ in âcardiac arrest,â per a 911 dispatch audio obtained by Page Six.
According to the audio, âCPR [was] in progressâ for an apparent âoverdose,â but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
TMZ reported that Narcan, which is used to reverse an opioid overdose, was found at the scene, though itâs unclear if Hayden had received the dose.
The day before her death, the âI Love You, Beth Cooperâ star had flown to the south from Los Angeles with her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson.
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