Inside Hayden Panettiere’s final hours from ‘fentanyl laced pill’, boyfriend ‘showing cops drug bag’ & brother mystery

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FIVE days before her 37th birthday, adored actress Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive in a South Carolina complex by on-off ex Brian Hickerson and his brother.

Hayden, the star of blockbuster TV drama Heroes, had touched down from Los Angeles the day before, where she had allegedly bought drugs from a longtime dealer.

The troubled actress reportedly took several pills on the roughly five-hour flight before she and Brian headed to their high-end Airbnb in Greenville.

There, Hayden is believed to have taken a fentanyl-laced Oxycodone tablet from a bag of prescription medication in the early hours of August 16.

Fentanyl – an opioid around 50 times more powerful than heroin – is deadly in even the smallest doses.

Tablets laced with the vicious substance have been responsible for the deaths of celebrities such as Mac Miller and Prince.

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Zach immediately called 911 while Brian gave her Narcan – a life-saving medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdose.

The fact that the couple were carrying naloxone suggests that one or both of them were struggling with substance abuse.

Emergency crews responded to a call saying a female was in “cardiac arrest” at around 1.15pm.

Brian showed cops a “bag of medication” Hayden was taking, according to an incident report.

EMS crews immediately began advanced cardiac life support, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

She was pronounced dead at 2.32pm.

Dispatch audio captured officials referring to an “overdose” as well as cardiac arrest during the emergency response.

However, authorities have not determined that an overdose caused Hayden’s death, and the coroner’s findings remain pending.

A resident of the flat complex where Hayden was staying told Page Six that the actress seemed to have stayed inside the unit.

She said: “I was shocked, as I’m sure everyone in Greenville was, to find out she was here.

“I don’t know that she was there long, and I’m not sure she even ever left the apartment.”

Hayden’s death sent shockwaves around the world, with tributes flowing in from family, friends, fans and fellow professionals.

Hayden has been open about her struggles with substance abuse, once revealing how her liver “gave out” due to a secret opioid addiction.

The actress told PEOPLE how her addiction issues severely worsened after the birth of her child in 2014.

To help cope with the postnatal depression, Hayden admitted she turned to alcohol.

Hayden ended up having to go to the hospital after her liver “gave out”.

A year after giving birth, she underwent her first stint in rehab while still filming for the hit show Nashville.

Years later, Hayden admitted she couldn’t stop drinking as she returned for treatment in 2021, enrolling in a 12-month program.

It took eight months of “intensive therapy” to help her move on past her addiction.

The child star was just 15 years old when someone on her team offered her what she described as “happy pills” before going on the red carpet.

She said: “They were to make me peppy during interviews.