Yahoo Lifestyle Hayden Panettiere Opens Up About 40-Pound Weight Gain After Death Of Little Brother Jansen
Hayden Panettiere has been through a lot over the past few years, including the death of her brother Jansen in 2023. Now, the Nashville alum is opening up about the impact that his death had on her health.
"He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him,” the 35-year-old told People. “When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul... I will never be able to get over it. No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss.”
But Hayden also shared that her health suffered after Jansen’s death. Here’s what happened, and how she’s doing now.
What happened to Hayden Panettiere’s brother Jansen?
Jansen was found dead in New York over President’s Day weekend in 2023. He was just 28 years old, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Jansen, who was also an actor, died from an enlarged heart coupled with aortic valve complications, his family said in a statement to ABC. “His charisma, warmth, compassion for others, and his creative spirit will live forever in our hearts and in the hearts of all whom he encountered,” the statement said.
Hayden gained weight after her brother’s death.
Hayden told People that she quickly gained 40 pounds after Jansen’s death.
“I just ballooned out,” she said. "It didn't matter what I did, what I ate. I know stress and cortisol running through your body can do that. Now I think my body was protecting itself, shielding itself from the world.”
It also triggered her agoraphobia.
Hayden said that she saw “horrific” paparazzi photos of herself leaving Jansen’s funeral, “which happened in a very private place, and it was shocking.”
Hayden said she “didn't recognize myself” and began dealing with agoraphobia, a condition she had struggled with in the past. (Agoraphobia, in case you’re not familiar with it, is an anxiety disorder where people have an intense fear of being around crowds and places where it may be difficult to escape.)
In 2014, Hayden first began experiencing symptoms after she gave birth to daughter Kaya and went back to work on Nashville three months later.
“No woman should have to be on camera unless they want to be three months after they give birth,” she said. “I’d just be stuffing every ounce of flub into Spanx, and it added to my depression and what I thought of myself. They say you should speak to yourself the way you would speak to your friends, but I was very, very guilty of speaking to myself horribly.”
Working out helped relieve her stress.
After Jansen's death, Hayden began exercising with celebrity trainer Marnie Alton, which she said was helpful. “We’d take these long, beautiful walks where we could vent, and it would be this therapy session,” Hayden said. “She empowered me.”
The endorphins helped Hayden's mood, too. “My body just started reacting, not just from the working out. It allowed me to release the stress, the high expectations I’d always put on myself,” she said.
In 2023, Hayden shared with Women’s Health that she worked with a trainer and enjoyed riding on the Peloton, though she didn’t follow a rigid schedule to keep exercise from feeling like a chore.
She previously used ‘intensive therapy’ to heal after struggling with addiction.
Over the course of her Hollywood career, Hayden struggled with alcohol addiction and began taking opioids after having a neck injury. “I was in a lot of pain,” she told WH. “My tolerance got so high so fast that it became a problem.”
Hayden went to rehab in 2015. “I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center,” she said. “I was drowning.” There, she was urged to change her routine, but her work schedule made that difficult. She began drinking again and entered a 12-step program and trauma therapy in 2021.
“I did a lot of work on myself,” she said. “After eight months of intensive therapy, I felt like I had this blank canvas to work with.”
Hayden is about to star in the drama Amber Alert, and she told People that she feels like herself again. "It's nice being back,” she said. “I waited for a while to make sure I was making the right choice about what project I was going to do first.”
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