Memorandum
- From
- Connor Quincy via fox - Entertainment
- Date
- Filed
- Culture·5 min to read
- Re
Justin Chatwin says Hollywood fails to support actors struggling with trauma and addiction
ReJustin Chatwin says Hollywood fails to support actors struggling with trauma and addiction
Justin Chatwin, who co-starred with Hayden Panettiere in her final film, says grief over her death has turned to anger at an industry that does not take care of people struggling with trauma and addiction.
Justin Chatwin, who worked alongside Hayden Panettiere on what became her final film, says his grief over her death has turned to anger at Hollywood's failure to support performers dealing with trauma and addiction. In an interview, Chatwin described the entertainment industry as one where people are not taken care of once they have delivered the work.
"I'm a man, so I process things by getting pissed off," Chatwin said. "And so I'm kind of angry that this is the culture that — and this is the industry — that people aren't taken care of." He added that many in the industry are dying from an inability to feel pain or heal trauma, and that there is not enough support or awareness around these issues.
Panettiere died Sunday, Aug. 16, at age 36. The "Heroes" and "Nashville" star was found in cardiac arrest at her home in Greenville, South Carolina, according to the Greenville County Coroner's Office. Emergency personnel attempted life-saving measures before she was pronounced dead. An autopsy found no signs of trauma contributing to her death, and her official cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.
Chatwin said the struggles he witnessed extend beyond Hollywood, describing trauma and addiction as an issue affecting people across the country. "It's not just her," he said. "We've lost a lot of people, and not just Hollywood, in all of America. It's an epidemic that needs to be looked at."
His final time with Panettiere came after the two finished working together on "Sleepwalker," a psychological thriller released in January. They went out to dinner after the film wrapped. "She was one of the top five, top 10 favorite people that I've ever worked with," he recalled. "She was super sweet."
However, Chatwin said he could sense that Panettiere was carrying significant pain. "I could sense a lot of pain that she had dealt with, from her family to her daughter," he said. "I could sense the heaviness and the weight that the toll of 20 years in Hollywood and … trauma and the fight to figure out the trauma and addiction can have on you."
Panettiere had previously spoken publicly about her struggles with addiction and other personal challenges. She detailed many of those experiences in her memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning." Chatwin first met her years earlier when she was in her 20s and starring on "Heroes." The two later reunited for "Sleepwalker," in which Panettiere starred as a grieving mother and also served as an executive producer.
Chatwin said he noticed a difference in his co-star when they reunited. "Life had taken a toll on her, and she had a lot of unfortunate incidents," he said. He also opened up about the loneliness that can exist behind the glamour of Hollywood, describing the stark transition performers can experience when they leave a movie set.
"Sometimes the pain is unbearable, and at the end of the day, you go home from a warm, fun movie set where everyone's telling you you're great, and you're alone in your house and you still got to order your coffee and eat your dinner," Chatwin said. "It's a really lonely career."
On set, however, Chatwin remembered Panettiere as "super fun" and said he treasured their deeper conversations. Reflecting on her experience while making "Sleepwalker," he also offered a warning to fellow performers about taking on roles that could force them to revisit unresolved experiences. "I think that actors need to consider what roles they play, especially if it's opening up a vulnerable trauma that isn't healed," he said.
Panettiere rose to fame as a child actor before becoming widely known for playing cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC's "Heroes." She later starred as country singer Juliette Barnes on "Nashville," earning two Golden Globe nominations, and appeared in the "Scream" franchise. Her death came a little more than three years after her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, died in 2023 at age 28 from an enlarged heart coupled with aortic valve complications. Panettiere had spoken openly about the profound grief she experienced following his death.
Despite the pain Chatwin said he witnessed, his description of how he hopes Panettiere will be remembered was simple. "She was a unicorn." When asked what Panettiere had told him about returning to acting, Chatwin said her focus wasn't on another role or career milestone. "I think the only focus was to be happy," he said.
