Jack Coleman, who played Hayden Panettiere’s father throughout all four seasons of “Heroes,” spoke out after her death, slamming the way the paparazzi and media had treated the actress.
On Wednesday, Coleman took to Instagram and shared his grief with his followers, noting just how “heartbroken” he was in the wake of Panettiere’s passing.
“I’m heartbroken. I couldn’t begin to put my thoughts into words until now, and they will be inadequate,” he wrote alongside several photos from “Heroes.” “I’ve loved Hayden since day one of the pilot of ‘Heroes,’ 20 years ago, when she introduced herself by shouting ‘daddy’ and throwing her arms around me. From that day on, she called me, ‘daddio.’ She was Haydini, because she was a magician.”
As Coleman went on, he remembered her as a “prodigious talent,” with the ability to cry on command for take after take.
“I marveled at her technique. ‘It’s not technique,’ she corrected me,” he recalled. “‘I’m not a trained seal. I feel it and the tears just happen to come at that moment.’ She was 16.”
Coleman emphasized Panettiere’s star power, sharing that she was No. 1 on IMDB Pro by the time she was 17. At this point in the tribute, Coleman took aim at the media, writing, “She was routinely asked obnoxious questions, mostly some version of ‘when are you going to go off the rails?’ Today, we’d recognize those questions for the misogynistic provocations they were.”
“She was hunted. Everywhere she went, there were photographers with 300 millimeter lenses—the kind that can make even the most innocent activity look sinister,” he continued. “Once, when she came to our house, paparazzi hid in the bushes behind our yard and drove onto neighbors’ lawns. They were predatory. No one, especially a teenager, should be targeted that way.”
Elsewhere in his tribute, Coleman shared that he felt Panettiere was “an extraordinary young woman who was blessed and cursed,” sharing the “sorrow,” “regret” and “anger” he was feeling following her death.
“She was vulnerable. She felt everything,” he added. “It made her a remarkable actor and susceptible to the heartache and thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.”
Before signing off his note, Coleman expressed his love for Hayden, writing, “I’ll miss you. I’m so sorry you suffered. I’ll remember how happy you were on set and on the European press tour; how you championed Tess when she was being bullied; your commitment to animal welfare and the courage to put yourself in harm’s way to protect them. I only wish you had been given that same protection.”
You can read his full tribute below.
Panettiere, a veteran actress known for her work on “Heroes,” “Nashville,” the “Scream” franchise and “Remember the Titans,” was found unresponsive by emergency services responding to a 911 call in Greenville, S.C. on Sunday, with “no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances,” per the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. She died at the age of 36.
Panettiere is survived by her daughter Kaya, whom she shared with ex Wladimir Klitschko.
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