VIDEO – FAME FATAL –
July 6, 2022 – Already a star by the age of 11 after roles on soap operas and in Remember the Titans, Panettiere says she was just 15 when someone on her team began to offer her “happy pills” before she walked the red carpets. “They were to make me peppy during interviews,” says Panettiere. “I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”
Panettiere was drinking alcohol and occasionally taking opioids, but meanwhile, her career was flourishing. “My saving grace is that I couldn’t be messy while on set and working,” says the star, who landed the role of superpowered cheerleader Claire Bennet on Heroes when she was 16. “But things kept getting out of control [off set]. And as I got older, the drugs and alcohol became something I almost couldn’t live without.”
