The people who understand what Hayden Panettiere went through growing up in the entertainment industry belong to a rather small club of former child stars that includes contemporaries like Hilary Duff, Alexa PenaVega, Christy Carlson Romano and Anna Paquin, all of whom this week paid tribute to the late actress following her death on Sunday, days ahead of what would have been her 37th birthday.
“I remember staying up late, chatting and gossiping, and connecting because we were part of such a small sliver of people who actually understood the strange lot in life we were navigating.. so young, with no real idea how to make sense of any of it,” Duff, 38, who rose to fame as a young star on the hit Disney Channel series “Lizzie McGuire,” wrote in a social media post Tuesday that she addressed to “Sweet Hayden.”
“Spy Kids” star PenaVega, like many this week, referenced late actresses Michelle Trachtenberg, 39, and Daveigh Chase, 35, who also grew up working in Hollywood and both died not very long ago.
“These aren’t just names from my childhood. They’re girls I grew up alongside, sharing a world that was exciting and also incredibly hard,” PenaVega, 37, wrote. “We were kids navigating something so big, and not everyone had the foundation or support they deserved.”
Romano, 42, whose rise began on the Disney Channel’s “Even Stevens” wrote an essay for Elle magazine, reflecting on coming of age in an industry that “gives us the wound and then acts surprised when we reach for something to treat it.”
Paquin, who won an Academy Award for her role in “The Piano” at just 11, wrote on Friday that female child stars are “not as protected by the ‘systems’ that look great on paper, as we are supposed to be.”
“It’s a strange small club we belong to,” she wrote, addressing her counterparts, “and you are worthy of support no matter how our industry made us feel.”
Like far too many before her, Panettiere’s death this week has put renewed light on the unique and often troubling experience of sacrificing your childhood for a career. Those of us outside that bubble are now trying to understand what Michelle Rodriguez put so bluntly this week when asked about the “Heroes” star’s death — “I just can’t stand how many young people are leaving us lately,” she told Variety.
“It’s disheartening, and it’s making me think, ‘What’s going on?’ It’s not normal.”