In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Chamberlin \u2014 who starred as Panettiere\u2019s on-screen mom on the 90s soap opera \u2014 opened up about her “special bond” with the late child star and the resilience she saw in her through difficult times.<\/p>\n
“When I would hear about some of the troubled times that she was going through, I would think to myself, \u2018She\u2019s gonna get through this, and watch out world,\u2019” Chamberlin told Fox News Digital. “Because when she gets through this, you are going to see some work on screen. You\u2019re going to see things like you\u2019ve never seen. I know Viola Davis made a comment that she is waiting to see what Hayden was going to fully become. And I think that puts it best because I think, that’s how I was feeling too.”<\/p>\n
HAYDEN PANETTIERE DEAD AT 36<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Beth Chamberlin, who starred as Hayden Panettiere’s mom in “Guiding Light,” opened up about her “special bond” with the late actress. (Getty Images; Everett Collection)<\/p>\n The “Heroes” and “Nashville” star was found dead inside a Greenville, South Carolina residence on Aug. 16.<\/p>\n Panettiere\u2019s on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach, called 911 after finding the actress unresponsive, according to a police report obtained by Fox News Digital. Hickerson later gave authorities a bag containing medication Panettiere had allegedly been taking.<\/p>\n POLICE SHOW UP AT HOME LINKED TO HAYDEN PANETTIERE\u2019S ON-AND-OFF BOYFRIEND DAYS AFTER HER SUDDEN DEATH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Panettiere\u2019s mother, Lesley Vogel,<\/a> publicly raised questions about Brian\u2019s role in her daughter\u2019s life and death.<\/p>\n “Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love,” she said in a statement to Entertainment Tonight<\/a>. “It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death.”<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “Hayden was a beautiful and talented young woman who unfortunately became involved with the wrong person, and although her family tried to extricate him from her life, we were unable to be successful.”\u2060<\/p>\n Hayden Panettiere died on Aug. 16. She was 36.\u00a0 (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Preliminary autopsy results found no signs of trauma that contributed to Panettiere\u2019s death, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office confirmed to Fox News Digital. However, Panettiere’s death remains under investigation.<\/p>\n HAYDEN PANETTIERE REMEMBERED BY VIOLA DAVIS, BETHANY JOY LENZ AND OTHER CELEBRITIES AFTER SUDDEN DEATH AT 36<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Fox News has learned the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)<\/a> has also been contacted and is assisting with the investigation.<\/p>\n For Chamberlin, processing Panettiere\u2019s death has been particularly difficult because she remembers her as the extraordinarily talented young girl she worked alongside on “Guiding Light.”<\/p>\n GET ENTERTAINMENT SCOOP DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR EMAIL BY CLICKING HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “She truly was just an amazing, amazing child actor,” Chamberlin said. “You\u2019ve never seen anything like it, actually.”<\/p>\n “Acting requires a lot of work to create an emotional arc. Now in a soap opera, too, you have to remember everything’s done in one take. It’s a multi-camera shoot … So you’ve got to get it right. And she was able to do that. With multiple pages, day after day.”<\/p>\n DISNEY ALUM CHRISTY CARLSON ROMANO RIPS HOLLYWOOD FOR FAILING CHILD STARS AFTER HAYDEN PANETTIERE\u2019S DEATH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Panettiere entered show business extraordinarily young, appearing in commercials as a baby before landing a role on “One Life to Live” at about 4 years old. Panettiere\u2019s major breakthrough came as Claire Bennet, the seemingly indestructible cheerleader at the center of NBC\u2019s superhero drama “Heroes,” which ran from 2006 to 2010. She followed that success with another defining television role, country singer Juliette Barnes on “Nashville” from 2012 to 2018. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Chamberlin says that while she has often discouraged children pursuing a career in acting, she strongly believed Panettiere was a special exception.<\/p>\n “I know there’s so many people that will say, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t put children in the business’ And I get that. And anybody that knows me, knows that when people in my life that have asked me, how about putting my kid in the businesses? I always say, ‘Don’t do it.’ I didn’t put my own kid in a business. But I’ve always maintained that Hayden was the exception to that. Because Hayden looked like she was in her element when she was there.”<\/p>\n![\"Hayden](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hayden-panettiere-beth-chamberlin.jpg\")
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