Hayden Panettiere Says Late Brother Jansen Is ‘Right Here with Me’

Hayden Panettiere took a moment to remember her brother Jansen Panettiere during an interview with “Good Morning America.”

Jansen passed away over President’s Day weekend at just 28 years old, and his family recently told ABC News he died from a “sudden passing was due to cardiomegaly (enlarged heart), coupled with aortic valve complications.”

Hayden stopped by “GMA” to promote her new movie “Scream 6,” and Michael Strahan told her, “We’re sorry to hear about the passing of your brother Jansen and we send our love and condolences.”

She replied, “He’s right here with me.”

During the conversation, Panettiere also touched on her own life and returning to acting after taking a few years off.

The 33-year-old said, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. I did have to take those four years off and thank God I did. I had to work on myself, my mental health, my physical health, spiritual health.”

As for reprising the role of Kirby in the “Scream” franchise, Hayden explained, “When it popped up and came back around, I was like, ‘I want to be part of that again,’ because I hoped that Kirby was still alive, I willed her back into existence. I called them when I heard they were doing ‘Scream 5.’” She told them, “I might still be alive and I might come in handy.”

Panettiere delved deeper into her past struggles in Women’s Health. The interview, from January, is featured in the April issue.

Opening up about her battle with alcohol, she recalled drinking at 22 after moving to Nashville.

“I was being told how to be and how to live by so many people in my life,” the actress said. “I wanted certain decisions to be my own, and nobody could stop me. What I put in my body was like an act of defiance.”

The star said of using alcohol to cope, “Some people work out. I wish that was my coping mechanism. Alcohol might make you feel better in that moment, but it makes you feel so much worse the next day, and then you do it all over again.”

Hayden and ex Wladimir Klitschko share 8-year-old daughter Kaya, and Panettiere has been open about battling postpartum depression after Kaya’s birth.

She told Women’s Health she was caught in a cycle of opioids and alcohol, explaining, “I should have gone on antidepressants [to cope with the postpartum depression], but you have to find the right one that works for you. They don’t mix well with alcohol, and I wasn’t ready to stop drinking.”

There was even a storyline on “Nashville” that reflected what was going on in her own life.

“They wrote my character as having postpartum depression. They wrote that she abandoned her child and went to a different country,” Hayden said. “And it was very difficult to go on-set and to act out these feelings about these things that I was truly going through in my real life.”

Her health declined after she left the industry. Hayden said, “I struggled with sleep deprivation. Sleep is massive. It affects your motor skills, your ability to think, and your overall health. My body was like, ‘enough.’ I hit 30. My face was swollen. I had jaundice. My eyes were yellow. I had to go to a liver specialist. I was holding on to weight that wasn’t normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps.”

Panettiere went through treatment, trauma therapy and a 12-step program.

“I did a lot of work on myself,” she said. “After eight months of intensive therapy, I felt like I had this blank canvas to work with.”

Hayden added, “A big part of my therapy has been living in forgiveness. A step in the 12-step program is making amends. If somebody wants to be a good person and to be the best version of themselves, they can choose to do that.”

She could also related to Kirby in “Scream VI,” saying, “In therapy, I kept wanting to go back to the beginning of the period of time where I was really happy and healthy… We saw Kirby get stabbed, but we never saw her die. We didn’t see her rescued either. She has that human trauma, and it’s changed her. That’s something I can obviously relate to.”

Another change she made was having a breast reduction in 2022 as a way to reclaim her body after childbirth.

“My body still didn’t feel like it belonged to me,” Hayden said. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with somebody who wants to tweak something if it makes them feel more confident. That’s all I have to say about it. My confidence is back.”

In a video clip for the mag, she also talked about her C-section scar.

“I have a C-section scar from when I had my little girl,” she said. “It’s a long story, but I lived through it. So it reminds me of where I’ve been and the beautiful creation that I made — my little girl.”