Charles Esten, who played guitarist Deacon Claybourne opposite Hayden Panettiere on “Nashville,” shared a tribute to his former co-star Monday, describing the moment they met during his 2012 audition for the show. Esten wrote that after finishing his tryout, he opened a door to leave and struck someone standing on the other side. That someone, he said, was Panettiere, who had been listening in character as Juliette Barnes. He recalled her breaking into a wide smile rather than showing embarrassment at being caught.
The two went on to star together for six seasons as characters bound by intertwined storylines of ambition, addiction and recovery. Esten wrote that he and his wife, Patty Hanson, were heartbroken over the loss of a friend he called talented and endlessly kind. Fellow “Nashville” star Connie Britton posted her own remembrance a day earlier, describing Panettiere as someone who was “bursting with brilliance.”
Esten’s tribute carried an added layer of coincidence. He had performed a tour stop at a Greenville, South Carolina, venue on Friday night, sharing an address with the apartment complex where Panettiere was later found unresponsive on Sunday. Authorities have not said why Panettiere was in Greenville or whether her visit was connected to Esten’s show.
Greenville police and fire crews responded to the complex shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday after an acquaintance called 911 to report an unresponsive woman in cardiac arrest. Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. despite resuscitation efforts. The Greenville County coroner’s office said Monday that an autopsy found no signs of trauma and that investigators had not identified any indication of foul play, though the official cause and manner of death remain pending further study. Dispatch audio referenced the possibility of an overdose, but officials have stressed that nothing has been confirmed.
Panettiere had written candidly in a memoir published in May about her struggles with substance use and postpartum depression. She would have turned 37 this coming Friday.
