EXCLUSIVE: ‘He was popping pills like gumballs.’ Hayden Panettiere’s graffiti-artist brother, 28, had been hooked on painkillers and went to rehab for his addiction one year before his death, neighbors reveal
- Jansen Panettiere was found dead at his apartment in Nyack, New York, on Sunday evening
- His cause of death has not been determined, and his actress sister Hayden Panettiere has yet to comment
- Panettiere’s final photo, posted on February 6, was a selfie taken while spray painting in Nyack, captioned: ‘Graffiti is illegal’
Hayden Panettiere’s brother Jansen had become hooked on opioids and underwent treatment for drug addiction a year before his shock death, DailyMail.com has learned.
Neighbors have revealed he had abused prescription painkillers – believed to be Oxycodone – and had been ‘popping them like gumballs’ over the years.
Sources told DailyMail.com that Jansen, who was living in Nyack, New York, at the time of his death, seemed to have sobered up after completing a stint in rehab last year, before falling off the wagon again in recent months.
On Tuesday police revealed the 28-year-old was found unresponsive at his apartment Sunday evening and was pronounced dead after failed attempts to revive him.
Jansen with sister Hayden. Over the years his work has included roles in The Walking Dead, Major Crimes, Even Stevens, Blue’s Clues, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Robots; Pictured 2019
Police are still investigating Jansen’s death and have not yet determined what killed him
The Rockland County Medical Examiner is yet to determine a cause of death and Orangetown Police said the investigation is ongoing.
But now neighbors say they wouldn’t be surprised if the actor-cum-artist had suffered a fatal overdose, saying Jansen was often seen returning to his apartment in the early hours of the morning looking ‘wasted’ and ‘shabbily dressed.’
One revealed The Walking Dead star lived at an apartment building on Main Street until a year and a half ago, when Jansen mysteriously disappeared from the scene for ‘a good year.’
‘He’d come out of a car at 4am wasted,’ said the local. ‘He said he was just coming back from a shoot. He looked destroyed.’
The neighbor described Jansen, who was born and raised in the Rockland County area, as a ‘regular, friendly’ and ‘unpretentious’ guy who never spoke about his famous sibling or his own work as an actor.
‘He was very nice guy, very friendly, he was an artist and an actor. Very friendly and generous; he would always offer me help,’ he added.
‘When he moved out of here; he disappeared. Then his father came and got his stuff out and said I have to get him out of here. Then he left for a year. I forwarded his mail; they wouldn’t give me his new address. A year later, he told me he’d gotten mail, didn’t tell me where he was.’
Jansen was the Nashville star’s only sibling. Hayden has not yet addressed his unexpected passing; They are pictured on January 24, less than a month before his death
The neighbor said Jansen ‘resurfaced’ in town at some point last year but had moved to another apartment a few blocks away.
‘When he left he probably went into rehab. He moved out, his dad grabbed his stuff,’ the neighbor added.
‘When he came back he looked okay in the beginning. He looked like a different person. He came back straightened up. Then he went downhill from there.’
According to a police report, Jansen’s body was discovered in his home by three friends who found him ‘unresponsive’ in a chair and desperately tried to revive him with CPR.
Friends grew ‘concerned’ when Jansen failed to show up to a prearranged meeting and went to check on him at his home in Nyack, just a stone’s throw from the town of Palisades, where he and Hayden spent their childhood.
Jansen Panettiere had bee ‘popping pills like gumballs’ a neighbor revealed to DailyMail.com
Upon arrival, the friends – who have been identified as Benjamin Brown, Joe Fails, and Lars Arianti – found Jansen ‘sitting upright in a chair unresponsive’ and desperately began performing CPR in the hopes of reviving him.
Fails phoned 911, while one of the others got in touch with Jansen and Hayden’s father, Alan ‘Skip’ Panettiere, who arrived on the scene as Brown was doing chest compressions.
Skip told EMTs that he had spoken to his son ‘via telephone the night before’ and that he had ‘sounded okay’.
When EMTs arrived at Jansen’s home, he was ‘laying on his back on the living room floor, not breathing, and cold to the touch with lividity’; the 28-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival by a Nyack EMT.
‘Deceased was pronounced dead on arrival by an EMT,’ the report continued. ‘There were no obvious signs of trauma observed.’
According to Orangetown Police Sgt. Peter Maher, no cause of death has yet been determined.
Foul play is not suspected in Jansen’s death. The siblings pictured with their mother Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, in 2019
‘As part of this ongoing investigation we are awaiting an official determination of the cause of death from the Rockland County Medical Examiner,’ he told DailyMail.com.
As part of this ongoing investigation we are awaiting an official determination of the cause of death from the Rockland County Medical Examiner,’ he told DailyMail.com.
The police report was released to the public just hours after a source close to Hayden revealed that she had been left ‘inconsolable’ by the loss of her only brother and ‘best friend’ – who had been battling ‘terrible anxiety and depression’ before his death.
According to the insider, Jansen had been ‘having a rough time lately with his career’ and felt as though he was ‘being dragged in so many directions’.
His final photo, posted to Instagram on February 6, showed him grinning broadly in the small town. ‘Graffiti is illegal,’ he captioned the picture.
His girlfriend, Catherine Michie, commented: ‘The law can’t stop Jansen Panettiere.’
Panettiere, an actor and graffiti artist, was struggling with his mental health.
‘Hayden is just inconsolable. He was her best friend and her only brother. He was such a nice guy but he lived on the edge.’
Jansen (seen with his sister left in 2008 and right in 2013) passed away in Nyack, New York
Hayden has not yet publicly addressed her brother’s unexpected passing.
Law enforcement were called to Jason’s apartment Sunday night around 5:30PM. Foul play is not suspected. It is just a stone’s throw from Palisades, the town where he and Hayden grew up.
Angelina Jolie also grew up in the area, and it has been home to a number of stars over the years, including Al Pacino, Bill Murray, Rosie O’Donnell and Diane Sawyer.
According to a biography on Jansen’s website, the former actor-turned-artist had been struggling with ‘terrible anxiety and depression’ as an adult, a condition that was triggered while he was living in Los Angeles.
It noted that he would later find ‘healing’ in his artwork.
Jansen, who was five years younger that his sister, followed Hayden’s footsteps into acting. The duo also worked together on Tiger Cruise in 2004, and Racing Stripes in 2005; Pictured 2010
‘This period in his life eventually produced a spiritual clarity that drove him to start painting his problems, one by one.
‘With more than 50 pieces, Jansen continues to heal himself as well as others with his visceral and emotive work.’
The siblings were last seen together less than a month before his death. Jansen shared a picture of Hayden cutting his hair on January 24.
‘Not the first haircut she’s tried to give me,’ he joked in the caption.
He also posted a throwback of the duo from a rafting trip on November 4, 2022.
He shared his last post over the weekend, featuring a new snap of his graffiti artwork.
On January 12, Jansen had also shared a series of images of himself in a photobooth with Michie, an ICU nurse.
The image collection showed the pair beaming happily for the cameras with their heads together, while one snap captured them sharing a sweet kiss.
He captioned the post, simply: ‘My babe.’
Hayden and Jansen were born to Lesley R. Vogel, a former soap opera actress, and Alan Lee Panettiere, a captain in the Fire Department of New York City.
Jansen was a budding graffiti artist who wrote on his website: ‘I don’t do anything illegal illegal or at least I don’t do illegal things that hurt people in front of me, if that makes sense’
According to Jansen’s website, he began suffering from ‘terrible anxiety and depression’ after ‘spending time in LA as an adult’
Having started painting at a young age, Jansen ultimately used his art in order to ‘heal himself’ from his mental health struggles
In January, Jansen shared a series of photobooth photos on Instagram in which he is seen kissing his girlfriend, ICU nurse Catherine Michie
Jansen, who was five years younger that his sister, followed Hayden’s footsteps into acting. His IMDb lists the 2022 comedy Love and Love Not as his last role.
His other work includes roles in The Walking Dead, Major Crimes, Shia LaBeouf’s TV show Even Stevens, Blue’s Clues, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Robots.
He also had a recurring role as Truman X in The X’s on Nickelodeon.
The duo also worked together on Tiger Cruise in 2004, and Racing Stripes in 2005.
Jansen received a nomination for a Young Artist Award in 2008 for his work on The Last Day of Summer.
At the time of his death he was attached to five different projects.
Jansen also had a website for his graffiti art, with his bio reading, ‘I AM a good person. I don’t do anything illegal illegal or at least I don’t do illegal things that hurt people in front of me, if that makes sense.
‘I’ve done drugs but I don’t steal. Not to say that anyone that’s ever stolen something is a bad person and far from it. Meaning I have my moments like everyone else.’
‘I was frustrated with the whole acting thing so I would take it out on weird things things like clothes.’
His IMDb lists the 2022 comedy Love and Love Not as his last role. At the time of his death he was attached to five different projects
The news of Jansen’s passing is the latest in a line of tragedies to befall Hayden – who spoke out just last year about her devastation at losing custody of her daughter Kaya while she was struggling with substance abuse issues.
Hayden opened up about her lengthy addiction struggles in a July 2022 interview with People magazine, revealing that her drug abuse began when she was just 15 years old – and then spiraled out of control while she was battling postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter Kaya in 2014.
‘As I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without,’ Hayden confessed – revealing that her struggle with postpartum depression combined with her reliance on drugs and alcohol resulted in her making the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to send her daughter away to live with her father, Wladimir Klitschko, in Ukraine.
‘I would have the shakes when I woke up and could only function with sipping alcohol,’ she admitted. ‘[Sending Kaya away] was the hardest thing I ever had to do. But I wanted to be a good mom to her – and sometimes that means letting them go.’
Hayden said that she did not drink while she was pregnant with Kaya, but she admitted that she fell off the wagon soon after her daughter was born, and from there, her alcohol issues continued to spiral out of control.
After she sent her daughter away to live with former heavyweight boxer Klitschko, 46, from whom she had split just months before following a nine-year on-off relationship, Hayden’s drinking continued to worsen – to the point where she had to be hospitalized with jaundice.
‘Doctors told me my liver was going to give out,’ she admitted. ‘I was no longer a 20 year old who could just bounce right back.’
The former child star, who began acting on-screen at the age of five, when she landed roles in popular soap operas One Life to Live and Guiding Light, says her drug abuse issues started when she was just 15 – one year before she began filming hit TV series Heroes.
Jansen’s death comes less than five years after Hayden lost custody of her daughter Kaya amid her substance abuse struggles
Hayden signed over custody of her daughter to her ex, former heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, in 2018 – but she has since said that she was forced into the arrangement
At the time, she claims members of her team began giving her ‘happy pills’ in an effort to make her seem more ‘peppy’ during interviews.
‘I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction,’ she explained.
In September, Hayden shed further light on her custody battle with her boxer ex, claiming that Wladimir was refusing to let their daughter visit her mother in California – while accusing him of forcing her to give up her child.
After spending years struggling with substance abuse issues, Hayden signed over full custody of Kaya to Klitschko, 46, in 2018, but in a candid interview on Red Table Talk, she claimed that it was ‘not’ a mutual agreement.
‘I thought she was going over to visit him like she always did – she went back and forth between me in Nashville and Ukraine – but once she was over there, [he] was immediately [like], ‘I want full custody of her,’ which was a shock for me,’ she explained.
‘It wasn’t my decision. In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there. In a country that’s very male-dominated, there wasn’t a heck of a lot that I could do.
‘It wasn’t a discussion. If [Klitschko] had come to me and said, ‘I think because of where you’re at right now and your struggles that you’re having it would be good for her to be over here with me for a while…’
‘If I had probably had enough of a conversation I would’ve said, ‘OK, that makes sense, I get it, I’ll come there to visit,’ stuff like that.
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