Actor Jack Coleman slammed the media for mistreating late actress Hayden Panettiere in the years before her death at 36 years old.
The actor, who played Panettiere's TV father, Noah Bennet, on former NBC series Heroes, posted a tribute to Instagram on Wednesday (August 19) calling out the paparazzi who followed the actress as a teenager "predatory" and the questions reporters asked her "misogynistic provocations."
"She was hunted," Coleman wrote, according to Variety. "Everywhere she went, there were photographers with 300 millimeter lenses — the kind that can make even the most innocent activity look sinister."
Coleman also described paparazzi insidiously hiding in bushes behind his home and driving onto neighbors' lawns when Panettiere visited to capture the Ice Princess star. "They were predatory. No one, especially a teenager, should be targeted that way," he wrote.
Coleman also took aim at reporters who repeatedly pushed Panettiere toward a mental breakdown before she reached adulthood. "By 17 she was #1 on IMDB Pro. 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,” the actor wrote.
The tribute sweetly opened with Coleman describing the bond they formed on the first day of the Heroes pilot 20 years ago, along with a photo carousel of their time on the former show. "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,” Coleman recalled."
Coleman closed the post with a direct memoriam to the actress, who died this week, just five days shy of what would have been her 37th birthday. "I love you, Hayden. I'll miss you,” Coleman wrote. “I'm so sorry you suffered. I only wish you had been given that same protection. Good night, sweet girl. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
Panettiere was found unresponsive at her apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16 following a 911 call at 1:51 p.m. She was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. The Greenville County Coroner's Office confirmed she died of cardiac arrest the following day. Paramedics reportedly told a dispatcher they suspected a possible overdose, and Narcan was found at the scene; the DEA has since joined local investigators in the ongoing inquiry.
The late entertainer is survived by her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, whom she shares with her ex-fiancé, former professional boxer Wladimir Klitschko. Her debut memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, released earlier this year addressed her struggles with addiction and public life openly. Since her passing, Panettiere received an outpouring of condolences from her loved ones, acting peers and former costars, like Christy Carlson Romano, Solange Knowles and Viola Davis.
