Ruby Rose wept Friday while remembering Hayden Panettiere, the actress she calls her best friend, as investigators in South Carolina still work to establish how Panettiere died.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the premiere of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” Rose said the two spoke every day for five years. She had not expected to befriend another celebrity, she said, given her experience with the industry, until Panettiere approached her and suggested they talk somewhere private. Rose said all Panettiere wanted was to “have her story told her way, on her terms.”
Panettiere, known for “Heroes,” “Nashville” and the “Scream” franchise, died Aug. 16 at 36. Paramedics found her in cardiac arrest at a Greenville apartment and could not revive her. An autopsy found no trauma, and Greenville police reported no signs of foul play. The county coroner has released neither a cause nor a manner of death while toxicology results are pending.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the inquiry. A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that federal agents are examining a possibility that Panettiere took a counterfeit pill she believed was another drug. Agents have questioned people in the Los Angeles area about where it came from, the source said. No official finding has confirmed that account.
Panettiere’s boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, was in the apartment with his brother when she died, according to a police report. His attorney, Sloan Ellis, said the investigation should be allowed to proceed and noted that police found no foul play.
The death has also sharpened a dispute over her family life. In her May memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” Panettiere wrote about addiction and a strained relationship with her mother, Lesley Vogel, who managed her career for years. Days after the death, Rose posted screenshots of texts she said came from Panettiere, describing pain over her mother’s treatment. The messages could not be independently verified. Vogel said in a statement that the estrangement stemmed from a “toxic individual who I believe led to her death,” and that it did not reflect a lack of love. She did not name the person.
