Hayden Panettiere Opened Up About Her Brother Jansen Years After His Sudden Loss — and the Guilt She Carried
Hayden Kept Returning to the Brother She Lost
For Hayden, however, Jansen’s death was not something she simply left in the past. Two years after his death, she marked the anniversary with an emotional Instagram tribute, writing, “2 years ago today, I lost my little brother. This amazing human being touched the lives of so many. Especially mine.”
She continued:
“The pain isn’t quantifiable. I pray you’re in a beautiful place, J. That you’re at peace and that when all is said and done…I’ll see you again. Rest easy, brother. You are so missed and beyond loved. 💜”
By September 2025, her grief was still unmistakably present. Hayden marked what would have been Jansen’s 31st birthday by describing him as “a remarkable human being” who was “wise beyond his years” and operated at “a higher spiritual level than anyone I’ve ever met.”
She wrote that she missed him every day but believed his spirit remained close to her family. “I love you to infinity and beyond, J, and we will be together again one day,” she wrote.
Then Hayden Revealed Why the Loss Still Haunted Her
The most painful part of Hayden’s story emerged in 2026, as she prepared to release her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. In an interview with E! News, Hayden admitted that writing about Jansen was the hardest part of the book. Her grief, she explained, was complicated by something much heavier than simply missing her younger brother.
Hayden and Jansen Panettiere pose together in 2019, years before his sudden death at 28. The siblings’ close bond would later make Hayden’s grief even more difficult as she revisited his death while writing her memoir. | Source: Getty Images
