Hayden Panettiere’s “second mom,” Lynsey Lonberg, detailed the troubling side of Hollywood that the late actress dealt with as a child star — including allegedly being offered pills.
“She referred to me in her book [“This Is Me: A Reckoning”] as her second mother. She was like a child to me,” Lonberg told the Daily Mail.
Lonberg said the “Heroes” alum, who began her acting career as an infant, “tried and tried and tried to get past her struggles, but she was an actress.”
“She told me that when you go working on a set, all kinds of pills, liquor, all kinds of things are available where you can get anything you want,” Lonberg claimed to the outlet.
“This kid didn’t have a chance. I don’t think she would have gone down the road she went down if it hadn’t been for Hollywood.”
Lonberg said Panettiere “did the best she could” for her daughter, Kaya, whom she welcomed with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.
“It was impossible for her [to] keep up what she was doing as an actress and try to take care of her daughter,” she shared.
“She was trying to overcome the problems she had with drugs,” Lonberg alleged.
Panettiere was found dead in an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday. She was 36.
According to an autopsy obtained by Page Six, the “Bring It On: All or Nothing” star had “no signs of trauma … that would have contributed to the death.”
A cause of death has not yet been revealed; however, a 911 call obtained by us revealed an “unidentified female” was in “cardiac arrest” following an alleged “overdose.”
Panettiere was often candid about her substance abuse struggles.
In her 2026 memoir, the “Scream VI” alum revealed she went to rehab after becoming dependent on alcohol following the traumatic birth of her daughter.
She also said she turned to prescription medication to deal with anxiety after Season 4 of “Nashville: began filming in 2015.
If you or someone you care about is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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