Hayden Panettiere opens up about brother's tragic death

At the beginning of last year, Hayden Panettiere suddenly lost her brother. He was found dead in his apartment at the age of 28. Now, the actress is speaking about this great loss for the first time.

Hayden Panettiere, the actress who gained fame through the series "Heroes," welcomed last year as a changed person. She completed rehab in a special closed facility and freed herself from a toxic relationship. The new start was supposed to mean a better life. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for her. In February, Jansen Panettiere was found dead in his apartment in New York. Later examinations revealed that the 28-year-old suffered from a congenital heart defect.

Now Hayden Panettiere has given an interview to the magazine "People," in which she opened up about her loss.

"He was my only sibling, and it was my job to protect him," she told the outlet. "When I lost him, I felt like I lost half of my soul," she said.

The experience of grief led to an even more severe crisis in her life; agoraphobia, a fear of open spaces she had dealt with before, returned.

"I had to see horrific paparazzi pictures of myself coming out of Jansen’s funeral, which happened in a very private place, and it was shocking," she confessed.

Today, she is learning to live with the personal loss of her brother's death, but it is still hard for her:

"I will always be heartbroken about it. I will never be able to get over it. No matter how many years go by, I will never get over his loss."

Like his sister, Jansen Panettiere began his career in show business at a young age. He debuted in the early 2000s in Disney Channel and Nickelodeon productions for children. He could be seen in series such as "Even Stevens," "Blue's Clues," and "The X's." Hayden Panettiere's younger brother shared the screen with her on several occasions. They appeared together in the 2004 film "Tiger Cruise" and a year later in the family film "Racing Stripes." In recent years, the most notable productions he was involved in included the film "The Last Day of Summer," for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award, and the series "The Walking Dead" and "Major Crimes."