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Dolly Parton died peacefully at age 80 in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 25, 2026, leaving her family to carry out private wishes that reflected both the glamorous figure the world knew and the woman behind it. Those arrangements would reunite her with the man she loved, while her final clothing included an unexpectedly comfortable touch and a responsibility left by his death still awaited completion.

Her Family Is Honoring a Carefully Guarded Goodbye

The announcement of Dolly’s death remembered far more than the music that made her famous. Her family described a singer, songwriter, actress, playwright, author, philanthropist, and global icon whose humor and generosity made millions of strangers feel close to her.

She died Tuesday morning at Vanderbilt University Medical Center after being admitted early Friday with kidney and autoimmune concerns, according to TMZ. Her recent medical difficulties reportedly included digestive and immune system problems, kidney stones, and complications connected to medication.

Those health concerns had already forced Dolly to step away from some professional commitments. She canceled appearances and postponed her Las Vegas residency while concentrating on her recovery, yet news of her death still shocked people within her circle.

Relatives reportedly hurried to Nashville after learning that she was hospitalized. Some who hoped to reach her bedside for one final visit did not arrive in time, adding another painful dimension to an already overwhelming loss.

Dolly was preceded in death by Carl, her husband of nearly six decades, as well as her parents, Avie Lee Caroline Owens and Robert Lee Parton Sr. Carl died in March 2025, while Avie Lee and Robert died in 2003 and 2000, respectively.

Her family plans to respect Dolly’s request for a small private service attended by immediate relatives. This gathering of her closest loved ones is currently being organized in Nashville.

No public funeral or large celebration of life had been finalized as of August 25. Instead, friends and admirers around the world were invited to share messages through Dolly’s official website or tag her social media account in their tributes.

The family also asked mourners to skip flowers and donate to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The request directs grief toward a cause that represented one of Dolly’s greatest ambitions: putting books into children’s hands long after she was no longer there to champion the program herself.

The private nature of the service suits a family that had already mourned Carl away from public view. Following his death at 82, Dolly announced that he would be buried during a ceremony limited to immediate family members.

Although the couple occupied very different relationships with fame, their lives remained closely connected for almost 60 years. Dolly belonged to audiences across the world, while Carl protected a quiet existence behind the scenes.

That contrast will disappear at their final resting place.

One Last Outfit Will Accompany Her to Carl

Dolly will be buried in the mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville, where Carl was laid to rest. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, confirmed the location while sharing details that make the arrangements feel unmistakably hers.

According to another report, the woman famous for rhinestones, towering hair, and unapologetic glamour selected her signature high heels and a comfortable cotton dress for her burial.

It is a tender combination of the Dolly audiences recognized and the private woman Carl knew. The heels preserve a familiar piece of her public image, while the simple fabric suggests comfort mattered when she considered her final clothing.

Yet her final destination brings the focus back to the relationship she kept largely outside that spectacle. Dolly met Carl outside a laundromat when she was 18, and he was 21, and they married two years later in 1966.

Carl later recalled the certainty he felt during that first encounter. “My first thought was, ‘I’m gonna marry that girl,'” he said in a statement marking their 50th anniversary in 2016. “My second thought was, ‘Lord she’s good lookin’.’ And that was the day my life began. I wouldn’t trade the last 50 years for nothing on this earth.”

Dolly offered an equally affectionate explanation of why their partnership endured. Speaking to US Magazine in 2022, she said they shared a sense of humor that helped them handle difficult situations without allowing the weight of a problem to consume their marriage.

“We’re the perfect partners,” Dolly said. “We’re able to solve any problem and any situation, making a joke about it and not letting it get too heavy, but we respect each other and we like each other. We lucked up, let’s put it that way.”

When Carl died on March 3, 2025, Dolly struggled to put that bond into language. “Carl and I spent many wonderful years together,” she wrote. “Words can’t do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

Just over 17 months later, arrangements were being made for Dolly to join him. However, Carl’s death had left her responsible for more than mourning, and the work surrounding his estate was still underway during her final days.

A Family Matter Remained Unfinished

Dolly filed court documents in May 2025 asking to be appointed executor of Carl’s estate. He had prepared a will years earlier and placed his wife at the center of the process, but the case had not been finalized before her death.

Court records reported by US Magazine state that Carl signed his will on January 16, 2013, and never amended it. A subsequent account described the document as dating from 2012, but both reports agree that Dolly was selected to oversee his affairs.

Carl identified the Carl Thomas Dean Trust as the sole beneficiary of his estate and named Dolly as its trustee. The couple had no children, a fact that made their extended family especially important within the document.

He listed five nieces and nephews on his side and 14 on Dolly’s. If she could not serve as executor, one of his nieces was designated to take her place.

Carl reportedly owned cash and personal property but no Tennessee real estate. Dolly also told the court that he did not own or control an ongoing business that would form part of the estate.

His personal and household belongings were to be distributed according to a handwritten list. If that list could not be found, Dolly had the authority to decide who received the property.

One provision carried particular emotional weight because it concerned the physical evidence of Dolly’s career. Carl gave her his entire interest in photographs, costumes, jewelry, musical instruments, equipment, and other personal effects connected to her work.

He also left Dolly his interest in furniture, artwork, automobiles, and additional belongings. Had she died first, those items were to be divided equally among their nieces and nephews through the plan he established.

Because Dolly survived Carl, the entertainment-related possessions passed to her. However, her death before the estate proceedings were completed means those objects must now go to the beneficiaries named in her own will, according to TMZ.

The unresolved case does not mean Dolly ignored estate planning. Years before either spouse died, she spoke openly about the need to spare loved ones from confusion and arguments after a famous artist’s death.

She had watched other major performers, including Prince and Aretha Franklin, die without wills. Dolly was determined not to leave a comparable legal struggle behind.

“I would not want to leave that mess to somebody else,” she told Billboard. “You don’t want to leave that mess to your family for people to have to fight over. You need to take care of that yourself, even if it’s a pain in the [expletive], and it is.”

Dolly and her manager, Danny Nozell, had spent years making decisions with her long-term legacy in mind. She also expanded selected branding partnerships late in her career, recognizing that royalties from successful projects could continue providing income without requiring her constant presence.

Carl’s unfinished probate case may now require another person to assume duties Dolly expected to complete. Her own estate, however, involves an enormously different collection of assets and a question that cannot be answered simply by looking for a direct descendant.

Her Fortune May Continue the Work She Called Her Own

Forbes valued Dolly’s wealth at approximately $450 million as of June 3, 2025. A substantial portion came from her involvement with Dollywood, the Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, attraction in which she invested in 1986.

The property grew beyond a theme park bearing her name. A hotel and water park followed, turning the project into a major entertainment destination and an enduring source of her fortune.

Her music catalog provides another valuable pillar of the estate. Dolly wrote more than 3,000 songs, and Forbes estimated in 2025 that the catalog was worth around $120 million.

Those compositions include “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You,” songs that reached well beyond country music. Their continuing use, performance, and licensing mean her estate includes work capable of producing revenue for years.

Dolly also earned money as an actress and published author. Her books included “Run, Rose, Run,” written with James Patterson, and the children’s title “Billy the Kid Makes It Big.”

Her family had not publicly disclosed the beneficiaries or exact distribution of her fortune immediately after her death. The Independent reported that her wealth is widely expected to advance the charitable interests she supported throughout her life.

A separate assessment similarly suggested that charity could receive most of the estate, with family members potentially inheriting a portion and her personal effects.

Any charitable bequest would follow decades of giving. In 1988, Dolly launched the Dollywood Foundation to encourage educational achievement among children in her home county.

The foundation introduced the Imagination Library in 1995. The program sends books to young children regardless of their family’s income and eventually expanded into five countries, distributing millions of volumes.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos gave Dolly $100 million in 2022 to direct toward charitable causes of her choice. The award recognized a woman who repeatedly treated wealth as a means of widening opportunity rather than simply accumulating more of it.

Dolly once connected that mission to the children she and Carl never had. During an episode of “The Oprah Conversation,” she explained that remaining child-free gave her the independence to pursue an unusually demanding career.

“Since I had no kids, and my husband was pretty independent, I had freedom,” she told Oprah Winfrey. “So I think a big part of my whole success is the fact that I was free to work.”

Dolly acknowledged that her professional life required sacrifices, but she believed her path had a wider purpose. “I didn’t have children because I believed that God didn’t mean for me to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine, so I could do things like Imagination Library,” she said.

The idea became central to how she understood her life. “God has a plan for everything,” Dolly continued. “I think it probably was his plan for me not to have kids so everybody’s kids could be mine. And they are now.”

In one of her final interviews, Dolly considered how relentlessly she had worked and how much she surrendered to fulfill her ambitions. She also recognized that parenthood could have complicated those choices with guilt.

“You know, I have just been going so fast my whole life,” she told People in 2025. “I never had children, so at least I didn’t have a guilty feeling. I’m thankful that I got to see my dreams come true.”

Dolly leaves no son or daughter to stand as an obvious heir, but her understanding of family was always larger than biology. Her relatives may inherit treasured objects, her songs will keep reaching listeners, and the fortune she deliberately organized may help more children discover books.

Her final high heels will accompany her into the mausoleum beside Carl, while the cotton dress offers a softer last image beneath the familiar glamour. Above ground, the work continues through millions of young readers, making Dolly’s belief that everybody’s children could be hers feel less like a farewell than a promise fulfilled.

Selma Blair, 54, pleaded not guilty in New York on Monday night, October 12, 2026, following allegations that she assaulted several people during and after a Delta flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport.

As she became tearful in court, her attorneys described circumstances that raise an unsettling question: could she have been in serious trouble before anyone on that plane realized it?

How Did Selma End Up Possibly Facing Years Behind Bars?

The stakes are painfully high for the actress who once played a Harvard law student. According to Page Six, Selma was charged with two counts of second-degree assault and faces between two and seven years in prison if convicted.

The state charges concern alleged assaults on a Port Authority police officer and a hospital nurse. Both allegedly occurred after a confrontation aboard a commercial aircraft, extending the incident well beyond the flight itself.

Selma appeared before Judge Indira Khan with defense attorneys Shawn Barnes and Joshua Reitzas. Indira set bail at $20,000 cash, $60,000 bond, or a $60,000 partially secured bond, and Selma was subsequently released.

During the arraignment, one of her lawyers wiped tears from Selma’s face. The court adjourned her case until January 19, 2027. The judge also granted an order of protection for the nurse Selma allegedly assaulted.

Those legal developments came only days after a very different New York appearance. On October 1, Selma had attended the Anti-Defamation League’s “State of the Arts: An Evening at The Jewish Museum,” where she appeared to be in good spirits.

Fans may also remember her from “Cruel Intentions,” “The Sweetest Thing,” and the “Hellboy” films. Now, the allegations involve a flight crew, emergency responders, and a hospital worker, with investigators examining how the episode unfolded.

To understand why her lawyers are focusing on the period before boarding, the flight itself needs to be retraced first.

What Happened Before the Plane Reached JFK?

The Delta aircraft was heading to JFK on Sunday, October 11, when Selma allegedly became physically aggressive toward members of the cabin crew.

According to TMZ, she allegedly punched one flight attendant and bit another while the aircraft was still in the air. Law enforcement sources said she was placed in restraints aboard the plane.

Dispatch audio obtained by the outlet captured requests for medical personnel to meet the aircraft at the gate. The injuries discussed included a bloody nose and bite marks, while a later update described a laceration suffered by one attendant.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that two flight attendants reported injuries. One was taken to a hospital.

The same dispatch audio included another alarming account: the passenger had apparently struck her head against a bulkhead. Police were waiting when the aircraft landed, and Selma was arrested.

An eyewitness recording obtained by TMZ captured her screaming as she exited the plane, with an alarm audible in the background. The recording documented her distress during that part of the response; the explanation her legal team would later offer had yet to emerge.

Delta addressed the incident through a spokesperson, saying, “Delta has zero tolerance for unruly or unlawful behavior, as the safety of our customers and crew always comes first.”

For the injured crew members, the response required medical attention as well as law enforcement. Selma, meanwhile, was taken to a hospital for evaluation. But the journey from the airport to that hospital brought further allegations.

Why Did the Ambulance Ride Bring More Charges?

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that Selma allegedly kicked a Port Authority police officer in the head repeatedly while traveling in an ambulance.

Upon reaching the hospital, she reportedly assaulted a nurse. The nurse pressed charges, and those two alleged encounters became the basis for the state assault counts.

The FBI was also investigating the episode aboard the aircraft. In its 1:20 p.m. Pacific Time update on October 12, TMZ reported that federal authorities had issued Selma a summons, also called a violation notice.

Law enforcement sources described the federal allegation as assault within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States. That federal action was reported separately from the two state charges addressed during her arraignment.

Earlier, while Selma was receiving treatment, a representative had offered an initial explanation: a medical situation.

“Selma experienced a medical emergency that led to the alleged conduct,” the representative told TMZ. “Upon landing, she received immediate medical attention and is currently in stable condition.”

At that point, the representative had not identified the cause of the emergency. The statement did, however, make clear that Selma’s team believed her medical state was central to understanding the incident.

Then, in court, one of her lawyers supplied the specifics behind that claim. His account reached back to her work schedule and a fall, before turning to something essential to her daily care.

What Do Her Lawyers Say Might Have Caused This Incident?

Attorney Barnes told the court that Selma had missed medication prescribed for her multiple sclerosis. He also said she had fallen and hit her head. Those were the first elements of the explanation her defense presented.

He added that she had boarded the flight after working extensive, exhausting hours on set in the days before traveling. In his account, the missed medication, head injury, and demanding work schedule all preceded the confrontation. He then pointed to the conditions during the flight.

“These factors coupled with the altitude, resulted in a state of severe confusion and disorientation,” he said. Attorney Barnes followed that with a direct rejection of the idea that she had deliberately attacked anyone:

“This was not an intentional assault.”

It is a troubling possibility, especially alongside the accounts of injuries to people trying to assist her. Whether the defense can substantiate that explanation will be part of the case ahead.

Her other representative, Attorney Reitzas, also asked the judge to consider Selma’s professional record, describing her as “the gold standard.” But Judge Khan responded firmly:

“Ms. Blair should not get special treatment because she is a celebrity.”

So, her career most likely won’t be part of this case. Her medical history, however, is another story, one that Selma has spent years discussing openly.

And for anyone who remembers her celebrating remission, there is an important part of that history that is easy to miss: she has continued to live with substantial symptoms.

Why Did Getting a Diagnosis Take So Long?

Selma received her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August 2018 and announced it publicly that October. At the time, she believed she had likely been living with the disease for at least 15 years.

MS affects the central nervous system and can interfere with the signals between the brain and body. Symptoms can include muscle weakness, changes in vision, numbness, and difficulties with memory.

For Selma, the years without answers had also damaged the way she understood herself. Speaking to “Today,” she described wondering whether she was imagining her symptoms and feeling “broken inside” before learning that she was ill.

During a February 6, 2025, appearance on the same show, she spoke about parenting her son, Arthur, while unknowingly living with MS. Fatigue had been her biggest problem, and she remembered asking other parents how they managed their own exhaustion.

She was trying to make sense of what was happening using the experience of the people around her. Her diagnosis eventually gave her a different answer.

In an interview with Us Weekly, Selma also discussed using alcohol to cope with spasms before she knew their cause. She became sober in 2016, two years before receiving her diagnosis. That same year, she had been removed from a flight on a stretcher after an outburst.

Ultimately, learning she had MS helped her reconsider years of self-blame. She spoke about wanting happiness while living without an explanation for the symptoms that had made life so difficult. “I could’ve been kinder to myself,” she told the magazine.

What Was Remission Really Like for Her?

Selma entered remission in 2021, reporting that no new lesions were forming. But recovery took longer than she had expected. The actress told “Today” that she was getting back on track. “I’m still here,” she said, acknowledging that a few years earlier she had not expected to be.

Her accounts of daily life help explain why remission could coexist with pain. In a November 2023 interview with Kristen Welker for NBC News, Selma said she was improving while still experiencing pain every day.

She also talked about having dystonia, explaining how it can affect her speech and lead others to misunderstand what they are seeing. “So there can be a lot of discrimination and confusion, I think, with people thinking I’m putting something on,” she said.

“But the real fact is I really am in pain all the time.”

Selma has described stiffness that persists despite attempts to relieve it through treatments or massage. Alongside that internal discomfort, the actress has said she cannot feel someone touching her skin. She has also disclosed having Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder.

These are experiences she has chosen to share publicly. They also show how much can be happening beyond what an audience sees during a cheerful interview or an evening out.

Her health updates have included setbacks, too. In September 2025, Selma revealed that she had believed her remission was relapse-free until a new doctor determined that she had experienced another relapse.

After a period of feeling unwell, she was offered a newly available medication that improved her symptoms. By the following spring, she was speaking with real enthusiasm about what she could do again.

What Had Selma Been Looking Forward to This Year?

During her April 14, 2026, appearance on “Today,” Selma said she was feeling well and confirmed that she was relapse-free. “You know, I’m tired a lot. That’s the truth of it,” she added.

She credited happiness and makeup with helping her through. The actress was also excited to get back to work in the upcoming “Ethan Almighty” film. After years of illness interrupting her life, being able to act once more was something she welcomed.

Away from the set, Selma had returned to riding her horse. She also noticed improvements when moving through narrow spaces, including hallways, which had previously triggered changes in her movement and speech.

“I have a lot of gains. You know, I really do,” she said.

Those gains gave her opportunities to do more while she felt well. She wanted to make use of that time, and she hoped sharing it would encourage others facing the same. That wish has also shaped her advocacy.

In 2023, she worked with longtime friend and designer Isaac Mizrahi on an adaptive clothing line. In 2026, she collaborated with MERSEA on a sleepwear and loungewear collection. A portion of the proceeds benefits the American Brain Foundation, for which she serves as a global ambassador.

She has documented her experience through a film, social media updates, and interviews, including conversations about parenting with MS. Her willingness to speak has often come from wanting other people to feel less alone.

“I found that people really were so grateful and there really was a need for people to be able to get more information without stigma,” she said on “Today.”

Now, that very public medical history sits alongside serious allegations that remain unresolved. Selma has pleaded not guilty, the people allegedly injured have their own place in the case, and her lawyers have offered an explanation they will have to support.

For now, the question raised in that emotional courtroom remains open: what happened to Selma before and during that flight? Her defense says the answer begins before boarding, and her next court date will bring the case into a new year.

Witness accounts, dispatch audio, and new photos now trace Hayden Panettiere’s final hours in Greenville, but one major question remains unanswered: Why was she there?

August 15, 2026: Hayden Arrives at a Greenville Rental

Hayden flew from Los Angeles to South Carolina on Saturday, with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, TMZ detailed in its account of her death.

She stayed at a unit in Judson Mill Lofts in Greenville. Page Six confirmed the apartment was being used as an Airbnb rental. A resident of the complex said they did not see Hayden leave the unit after she arrived.

“I was shocked, as I’m sure everyone in Greenville was, to find out she was here,” the neighbor told the media.

August 16, 2026: A Friend Calls 911 After Hayden Is Found Unresponsive

A friend called 911 at 1:51 p.m. Sunday to say Hayden was unresponsive and in cardiac arrest.

Emergency medical workers responded and began trying to revive her. Paramedics performed chest compressions and advanced cardiac life support.

A photo shared by TMZ on X showed a fire truck and ambulances outside the complex. The same outlet said another image showed a Greenville County coroner’s vehicle in front of the same building.

A resident separately recalled that police had been at the property from around noon.

Dispatch Audio Reveals What Responders Were Told

The dispatch audio added more detail about what emergency crews were being told as they responded. The patient was described as an “unidentified female” in “cardiac arrest.”

Within minutes, the audio indicated that CPR was in progress for an “overdose.” Medics were also described as being sent to perform CPR on someone who had overdosed.

Those details reflect information communicated during the emergency response. An overdose had not been established as Hayden’s official cause of death in the reports provided.

Resuscitation Efforts End at the Greenville Apartment

Despite efforts to revive her, Hayden Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. Police said there were no initial signs of foul play, and the circumstances surrounding her death did not appear suspicious.

The Greenville County coroner was expected to determine the official cause and manner of death. Outside the apartment, the neighbor watched the response continue.

The neighbor noticed two unidentified men sitting with the police and said they appeared shaken. “They looked like they were in shock, not speaking, and had their heads down,” the neighbor said.

Police Remain at the Complex Into Sunday Evening

Police remained at Judson Mill Lofts until about 8 p.m., based on the neighbor’s account.

The arrival of the coroner’s vehicle made the seriousness of the situation clear. “The coroner vehicle showed up and, of course, I knew then that there was a death,” the resident told Page Six.

By the following morning, the neighbor had learned who had died at the complex. “Then woke up this morning to hear that it was Hayden, which is just still shocking,” the resident said.

Earlier reporting also captured the first public confirmations of her death and the reflections she had shared in the months before it.

Hayden’s representative recently confirmed her death to ABC News. At the time, the outlet said further details about the circumstances were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, Hayden’s father, Skip Panettiere, issued his first public statement following his daughter’s death.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he told ABC News. He described her as “an incredible light and a force of nature” who brought “immeasurable love and joy” to those who knew her and to the millions who watched her onscreen.

Skip also asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”

Hayden Panettiere Reflected on What Her Childhood Career Had Cost Her

Hayden had spent much of 2026 speaking publicly about her life with unusual openness. On May 15, she discussed her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” during an interview with NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer.

The actress, who was born on August 21, 1989, in Palisades, New York, traced her career back to infancy, telling NPR that she began baby modeling at 8 months old and filmed her first commercial at 11 months.

The interview focused less on career milestones than on what that childhood cost her. Hayden said she often felt caught between an adult professional world and the childhood she wanted to experience.

“I desperately wanted to fit in. That’s what I wanted more than anything,” she said, recalling that she wanted friends her own age, school and sports.

She also spoke about the emotional demands of acting. As a child, Hayden became known for being able to cry on cue, but she said the mental places she had to reach became darker as she grew older.

By adulthood, she said, moving in and out of emotionally intense characters became more difficult. Her experience on “Nashville” was especially complicated.

Hayden told the outlet that storylines involving strained family relationships, postpartum depression, alcoholism and drug addiction increasingly mirrored struggles in her own life. “I stopped being able to tell where the character started and where, you know, I ended,” she said.

Her Final Months Included Candid Reflections on Motherhood and Healing

On May 26, Hayden appeared at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles for a book signing and panel tied to her memoir, according to People.

During the conversation, she spoke about people who had approached her after hearing her discuss mental health, telling her that her openness had encouraged them to seek help.

For Hayden, those encounters shaped how she thought about the impact she hoped to leave behind. “I was like, This is worth it. I can hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it,” she said.

In a July cover interview with parenting outlet Momé, Hayden spoke candidly about motherhood and the difficult decisions she had made for her daughter, Kaya.

She discussed Kaya’s life-threatening birth, her experience with postpartum depression, and the decision for her 11-year-old daughter to primarily live with her father, former boxer Wladimir Klitschko.

“I’ve been able to put her first no matter how I’ve felt or what I’ve experienced,” Hayden said. She hoped “one day she’ll understand my story, and why I wasn’t able to be with her all the time.”

Hayden also reflected on where she was in her own life at the time of the interview. “I’m a work in progress — we all are,” she said. “I take each day as it comes. I’m doing the work, and I’m doing my best.”

She closed the interview with a message for other mothers facing difficult periods: “You’re stronger than you know. And you’re going to be just fine.”

Her Last Instagram Post Became a Place for Farewells

In the weeks before her death, Hayden shared what would become her final public Instagram post.

Published July 27, the black-and-white photo showed her smiling with photographer and director Randall Slavin. Hayden tagged him and added a sparkle emoji. “Good times and good friends,” she captioned the post.

After news of her death emerged, actress Selma Blair left several emotional messages beneath it, according to The Independent. “I love you. Don’t be gone. Don’t be gone. Please. Please,” Selma wrote.

In another comment, she called Hayden “whale tail my friend.” She later added, “I’m dying. Please be here.”

Randall also returned to the July 27 image. He reposted the black-and-white photo to his Instagram Story and wrote, “Peace be with you, H.”

“Bring It On: All or Nothing” star Emme Rylan shared a separate Instagram Story featuring a black-and-white portrait of Hayden marked “1989-2026.” Emme expressed her sadness over Hayden’s death and paid tribute to her as a “sweet soul.”

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) also paid tribute to Hayden in an Instagram post, noting that she had been a member of the union since 1994.

“We join in mourning the sudden passing of Hayden Panettiere. Starting as a child actor, Hayden’s long career in TV and film included memorable roles in ‘Heroes,’ ‘Nashville’ and more. Our hearts are with her daughter, family, friends and fans. May she #RIP. 🕊️,” the union wrote.

Hayden Panettiere’s relationship with Brian Hickerson had already weathered years of breakups, reconciliations and painful headlines. But in a May 2026 interview, Hickerson offered an unexpectedly tender description of the actress — one that now feels very different after the events that followed.

At the time, Hickerson said Panettiere held a special place in his heart, but he also acknowledged that their relationship was complicated. He suggested that stepping away might give her the space to focus on her future, adding, “So we probably wouldn’t be good together.”

Hickerson Once Had a Very Different Way of Describing Panettiere

During the 2026 interview, Hickerson was asked what he wanted people to understand about his relationship with Panettiere. His answer was affectionate and surprisingly poetic. “Hayden Panettiere is the sweetest thing in the world. It’s not about who you spend Saturday night with. It’s who you spend all day Sunday with. Hayden Panettiere was my Sunday girl.”

The interviewer then asked whether Hickerson believed Panettiere would be better off without him. His response suggested that he knew their relationship was complicated. “I think that Hayden is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met in my life, and I would be an idiot not to walk away from her and let her flourish in her career.”

In the interview, Hickerson said he wanted to see what Panettiere would accomplish over the next three decades of her career. “I’d like to see what she’s going to do with the next, like, 30 years of her career. She’s, you know, she’ll always hold a special place in my heart, and, you know, I hope the same for her. But, yeah, we’re just good buddies.”

Panettiere and Hickerson were first linked in August 2018, shortly after her reported separation from Wladimir Klitschko.

Their Romance Had Already Taken a Dark Turn

By May 2019, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had charged Hickerson with one felony count of injuring a spouse, cohabitant, or girlfriend following his arrest over an alleged physical altercation. He was released after posting a $50,000 bond. At that stage, a conviction could have carried a prison sentence of up to four years, according to the 2019 report.

People close to Panettiere expressed concern about the romance. One source described Hickerson as controlling and prone to anger, while another called him a bad influence. Hickerson publicly rejected those worries and said Panettiere was happy and healthy.

Yet his legal troubles involving her continued. In February 2020, Hickerson was arrested in Jackson, Wyoming, after allegedly punching Panettiere on the right side of her face with a closed fist. He was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and interference with a police officer and reportedly pleaded not guilty.

A later California indictment included four felony counts of corporal injury, two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, one felony count of attempting to dissuade Panettiere as a witness, and a misdemeanor battery count. The allegations covered incidents between May 2019 and January 2020.

In 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse, cohabitant, girlfriend, or child’s parent. The remaining charges were dropped during sentencing.

He received 45 days in jail, four years of formal probation, 52 domestic violence classes, $500 in restitution, and a five-year protective order.

Panettiere had previously issued a forceful statement about the abuse she said she endured. She explained that she was speaking publicly in the hope that other people in abusive relationships would seek help.

“I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again,” she said. She also thanked the people who helped her regain her voice and her life.

Her attorney, Alan Jackson, described Panettiere as a survivor of years of psychological, emotional, and severe physical abuse. He said her decision to cooperate with prosecutors was part of a healing process that had only just begun.

Yet despite that history, Panettiere and Hickerson’s connection kept resurfacing.

The Relationship Was Apparently Far From Over

By 2026, the public had become accustomed to reports that Panettiere and Hickerson had split. According to sources cited by TMZ, however, those reports did not tell the full story.

A source close to Hickerson claimed the pair had not broken up as many times as the public had been led to believe and were actually together while Panettiere promoted her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, in the months before her death.

The relationship was reportedly kept private because Panettiere’s team believed Hickerson was “bad for business.” The secrecy apparently extended beyond avoiding public appearances together.

That detail gave their private relationship a particularly unsettling significance. But what happened just three days before Panettiere’s death added another unexpected chapter to Hickerson’s story.

A Judge Rejected Hickerson’s Bid Just Days Before Hayden Died

On August 13, a judge rejected Hickerson’s request to reduce his past felony convictions to misdemeanors and his separate request to have them expunged. According to Page Six, the prosecution objected to both motions during the hearing. Judge Olivia Rosales denied the requests, with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirming the decision to the publication.

It was not the first time Hickerson had attempted to have the convictions reduced or dismissed. He had reportedly made a similar request in July 2025.

His petition noted that he had fulfilled the conditions of his probation. The timing was striking: the ruling came only three days before Panettiere died. Still, there is no information in the provided sources connecting the court decision to Panettiere’s death, and available reports did not accuse Hickerson of involvement in her death.

The circumstances surrounding the actress’s final trip remained unclear, including where she and Hickerson stayed and why they traveled south. His family was reportedly aware of Panettiere’s death. Then, on August 15, just one day before Panettiere died, Hickerson was reportedly the man who traveled with her from Los Angeles to the South.

And while Hickerson had publicly described Panettiere as his “Sunday girl” months earlier, someone close to her later revealed words from a very different side of her life.

Panettiere’s Final Text Was About Something Much Bigger

Musician Clayton Johnson shared a video of himself and Panettiere singing after her death, along with a deeply personal message about their friendship. “I spent last night trying to process, to try to find the right words, but there really aren’t any. More than anything, I hope you’re at peace now and reunited with Jansen.”

But then he shared something more intimate. Johnson said the last text Panettiere ever sent him was a sentence that sounded unmistakably like her:

“Honestly, people think it’s a joke to ask for world peace, but that would be me.”

Johnson said the message was “you in a nutshell” and expressed gratitude for having known her and for the memories they shared. His post ended with a simple farewell:

“Fly high, Hayden. 🤍”

While headlines had followed her relationships, addiction struggles, and painful experiences, her final words to Johnson were about world peace. But Panettiere’s death itself had already left unanswered questions.

An Unanswered Call Drew Police to South Carolina

Panettiere died on Sunday, August 16, 2026, at age 36 after an acquaintance reportedly called 911 to report an unresponsive woman at a home in Greenville, South Carolina.

Initial dispatch information referred to a person in cardiac arrest, and a separate report said a friend found Panettiere inside the home. Her publicist, Kasey Kitchen, confirmed that authorities were investigating. “There’s an investigation ongoing,” Kitchen said. “We should know more tomorrow.”

The Greenville Police Department and Greenville County Coroner’s Office were handling the open investigation. No cause or manner of death was immediately announced.

Police said their preliminary findings had uncovered no indication of foul play or suspicious circumstances. A source close to Panettiere also said she had complained of back pain during the past year. There was no official suggestion that the pain had any connection to her death.

Her representative remembered her as far more than a familiar face on television.

“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” the representative said in a statement reported by NBC News. “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her, and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”

Panettiere’s death arrived only months after she began discussing her private life with rare openness. Her comments covered everything from motherhood and addiction to relationships that ranged from peaceful to deeply troubling.

The Battle She Refused to Hide

In July 2026, Panettiere gave a deeply personal interview to MOMÉ magazine. She did not present herself as cured or pretend that recovery had erased the past.

Her account began with the birth of her daughter, Kaya, when a smooth pregnancy gave way to a frightening medical emergency. Panettiere experienced sharp pain in her lower back because the baby was pressing against a bundle of nerves, and she was eventually taken for a cesarean section.

After Kaya was placed on her chest, someone called a “code crimson.” The newborn was handed to Panettiere’s then-fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, while medical workers rushed to control Panettiere’s hemorrhaging.

Panettiere later learned that the strange suctioning sound she heard in the room was her own blood being removed. Seven transfusions and a second surgery were required to repair the damaged vessels and save her life.

“I closed my eyes and just prayed for my daughter to be okay,” she recalled. “I truly was ready to go if it was my time. Kaya being safe and healthy was all that mattered.”

Her emotional crisis continued after the physical danger had passed. While watching Klitschko rock their daughter in the hospital, Panettiere felt none of the instant connection she had expected. “I felt nothing,” she said. “And now I had to figure out how to bond with her. It seemed like an impossible task.”

Panettiere had imagined motherhood in detail before giving birth, including the activities she would share with her future “mini-me.” The numbness that followed left her ashamed and confused.

She said she appeared blessed on the outside while feeling empty on the inside. She began using wine to silence that emptiness, and the habit developed into dangerous territory.

“I turned to wine, which ultimately ended up leading to an alcohol dependency,” she explained. “It was how I would get through each day.”

People around Panettiere saw the addiction but did not initially understand the depression beneath it. Even after she received a postpartum depression diagnosis, she said treatment remained focused on her drinking instead of its source.

Panettiere wished the illness had been recognized sooner. Treatment helped her become sober, but she remained in denial about how much healing was still ahead.

She was actively fighting substance abuse when she agreed that her daughter should live with Klitschko in Ukraine in 2018. “It wasn’t a decision I made lightly, nor was it a decision I even wanted to make,” she said. “I knew I needed to be able to put her first so that I could get the help I needed and be the mom she needed me to be.”

Panettiere later believed a temporary separation would allow her to seek help and eventually rebuild her time with Kaya, but she ultimately signed papers giving Klitschko full custody.

“It was the worst signing those papers, the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life,” she said in 2022.

Still, Panettiere remained in frequent contact with her girl and felt deeply connected to her. She proudly called her daughter a “mini-me.” She hoped Kaya would eventually understand why they could not always live together.

Therapy had also taught Panettiere that forgiveness needed to include herself. “You have to let go of what you wish you could change, and be present, and make the most of what you have now,” she said.

Her Final Words Now Feel Painfully Different

Despite everything, Panettiere refused to call herself a victim in that last interview. “I’m a warrior,” she declared, describing herself as resilient after surviving more trauma than she ever expected to face.

She also resisted offering a neat recovery story. “I’m a work in progress. We all are,” she told MOMÉ. “I take each day as it comes. I’m doing the work, and I’m doing my best.”

Her self-care had become quiet and practical. She set boundaries, journaled, resisted the urge to please everyone, and stayed near people who made her feel safe.

Panettiere also enjoyed tea and a good book. Creating something she could bring into the world made her feel most alive, and she wanted her experiences to help others facing similar pain.

The interview closed with a question about what she would tell her frightened, exhausted younger self. Panettiere’s answer was also meant for any new mother who felt numb, alone, or convinced she was failing.

Her message was hopeful when she gave it. After her sudden death, its two short sentences feel almost unbearably poignant.

“You’re stronger than you know. And you’re going to be just fine.”

Those words reflected the survival instinct that ran throughout Panettiere’s life. The same intensity could also be seen in the way she approached love, even when a relationship left her shattered.

The Relationships That Shaped Her Private Life

Stephen Colletti was one of Panettiere’s first public boyfriends. They were linked in 2006 and dated for nearly two years before separating by the end of 2007.

In a May 2026 cover story, Panettiere said Colletti had been particularly helpful when paparazzi and tabloid attention began closing in around her. His experience on “Laguna Beach,” which he starred on from 2004 to 2005, meant he already understood that kind of scrutiny.

Panettiere described Colletti as “very protective” and said he dealt with reporters diplomatically. He showed her that boundaries could be firm without becoming rude or hostile.

Their separation was gentle by celebrity-breakup standards. “We just ended up going our separate ways, there wasn’t really a story there,” she said. “Like, no drama.”

Panettiere encountered Colletti again in 2026 after years apart and said the reunion was pleasant. Although they had not stayed as close as she wished, she remained grateful for the way he treated her.

Her relationship with “Heroes” costar Milo Ventimiglia carried a different emotional intensity. Panettiere was 18, and Ventimiglia was 29, creating a nearly 12-year age gap.

Panettiere said she entered every relationship with her “whole self” and once believed the romance could keep developing toward marriage. Still, she struggled to place the word “I” before “love you,” a hesitation she did not yet understand.

Their breakup crushed her. When asked whether Ventimiglia briefly reversed his decision because of her reaction, Panettiere answered with painful bluntness in a separate Us interview. “One hundred percent it was only because I was over the toilet, hysterically crying,” she said.

She remembered feeling as though her world had collapsed because no betrayal or explosive confrontation had warned her it was coming. According to Panettiere, Ventimiglia took the breakup back after witnessing her distress, then ended the relationship again one week later.

Panettiere later became involved with professional boxer and father of her daughter, Klitschko. Their on-and-off relationship began in 2009, and they became engaged in 2013. Panettiere and Klitschko ultimately separated in August 2018.

Between an earlier split from Klitschko and their later engagement, Panettiere dated former New York Jets player Scotty McKnight. The relationship ended in late 2012.

Sources said the pair had separated several weeks before the news became public. The breakup was reportedly friendly, and the former couple remained on good terms; one source even suggested a future reunion was in the cards.

Only months before that final journey, Panettiere had publicly put words to another part of herself for the first time.

She Finally Said It Out Loud

During her May 2026 interview with Us, Panettiere was asked whether she identified with labels such as bisexual or queer. Her answer was direct, confident, and clearly meaningful to her.

“Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable to confidently say that yes, I am bisexual,” she said in the May interview.

“I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud.”

The disclosure added another deeply personal chapter to her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning.” After years of having her relationships examined in headlines, Panettiere was finally identifying herself on her own terms.

Her willingness to speak so plainly mattered because audiences had watched her for nearly her entire life.

A Career Millennials Grew Up Watching

Panettiere entered the entertainment business before she was old enough to remember it. She signed with Wilhelmina Models at eight months old and booked her first commercial at 11 months.

By the early 1990s, she was working as a child actress. Her career soon placed her in the unusual position of growing up onscreen while viewers of the same generation grew up alongside her.

One of Panettiere’s first memorable movie roles came in the 2000 sports drama “Remember the Titans.” Playing Sheryl Yoast opposite Denzel Washington introduced her to a much larger audience.

In 2005, she starred in “Ice Princess” alongside Michelle Trachtenberg. The Disney movie became one of the projects that made both young actresses especially familiar to millennial audiences.

Panettiere’s defining television breakthrough followed with “Heroes.” As cheerleader Claire Bennet, she became central to a hit series whose famous message about saving the cheerleader entered pop culture.

She later took on the role of country singer Juliette Barnes in “Nashville.” The performance earned her multiple award nominations and allowed her to portray ambition, addiction, fame, and motherhood with an uncomfortable degree of emotional realism.

Some of Juliette’s experiences eventually resembled Panettiere’s own life. She later acknowledged the strain of repeatedly entering those dark emotional places while filming the series for long hours over several years.

Panettiere also played Kirby Reed in “Scream 4” and returned for “Scream VI.” Video game fans knew her voice and likeness from “Until Dawn.”

Behind those performances, her private life became increasingly difficult, which she discussed in her book. It also confronted the death of her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died in 2023 at 28. Panettiere later spoke about the grief and guilt she carried after losing him.

She was last publicly spotted by TMZ at LaGuardia Airport in May 2026 with a friend, shortly before the memoir’s release. She offered no major declaration that day, only a noticeable grin as she continued through the airport.

An actress who influenced a generation is gone far too soon. Panettiere leaves behind her daughter, Kaya, a body of work that shaped millennial pop culture, and the memory of a woman who kept trying to turn her hardest experiences into something that might help another person.

Our deepest condolences go to Panettiere’s daughter, family, friends, colleagues, and everyone mourning her loss.

The “Nashville” actress died Sunday, August 16, at 36 after she was found unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina. According to ABC News, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) joined the investigation on August 19, assisting the Greenville City Police Department, which remains the lead agency.

The development came shortly after Greenville police released a report detailing the scene where Hayden was found in cardiac arrest. An officer responding to an EMS call for an unresponsive person reported that Hayden was at the residence with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson.

The Investigation Has Taken a More Serious Turn

The police report did not establish whether Hayden had been using drugs or alcohol at the time. It also noted that Brian showed officers a bag containing medication Hayden had been taking. Hayden’s representative later gave ABC News a brief statement as the investigation continued.

“There’s nothing to be shared at this time as the investigation is ongoing, but we are hopeful that justice will be served.” The coroner’s office has said Hayden’s official cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and additional studies.

That distinction is important because the investigation has not officially established that an overdose caused Hayden’s death, even as reports surrounding Narcan and the DEA’s involvement have intensified questions. And now, a new account from Brian’s brother has provided considerably more detail about what happened inside the Airbnb.

Zach Reveals What Happened Inside the Airbnb

According to TMZ’s report, Zach said he woke up at his Airbnb that Sunday morning, got dressed, and went to church. He said he exchanged messages with Brian on his way there, and they planned to have lunch and play indoor golf after the service.

“When I left church, I called and texted both of them. When I didn’t reach Brian or Hayden, I just assumed maybe they fell back asleep, so I drove over and went to the Airbnb.”

“When I got there, I knew the code to the building but not the door code to the Airbnb,” he added. He continued, “I knocked loudly, which apparently woke Brian up from a nap they were both taking on the pull out couch bed in the living room.”

The brothers then tried to wake Hayden so they could leave for lunch. “When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious.”

What happened next had not previously been publicly confirmed.

Zach Confirmed That Brian Administered the Narcan to Hayden

“I immediately called 911, and Brian gave her Narcan.” The brothers then attempted to keep her alive while waiting for emergency responders. “We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until Fire and EMS arrived.”

Zach said they remained there as emergency personnel attempted to save Hayden. “At that point we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life.”

His account provides a new detail about the Narcan found at the residence. Zach’s statement to the publication now answers that question from his perspective: he says Brian gave Hayden the medication.

The disclosure does not establish Hayden’s official cause of death, which remains pending as authorities continue their investigation.

Zach Has a Message for Those Speculating

Zach also addressed the speculation surrounding Hayden’s death, saying he wanted the public to wait for investigators to establish what happened.

“There are a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations currently swirling. The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation.”

“And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.” He said he wanted to clarify his own involvement while allowing those closest to Hayden to grieve.

“At this time, I want to clarify my involvement in effort to keep the focus on the fact that we lost one of the most precious individuals on this earth and to allow those that cared about her to mourn without additional noise, chaos, and misinformation being created and propagated by the media as well as the public.”

Zach also described the personal loss. “I am beyond heartbroken and devastated by this tragic and traumatic loss. Hayden was one of my dearest and closest friends that I loved and cared about for the last 8 years.”

Then came his direct appeal to the public. “Out of respect for her loved ones, the speculation and sensationalism of her death needs to end until the facts can be released from the investigation.”

Friday would have marked Hayden’s 37th birthday. Friday would have marked Hayden’s 37th birthday. Instead of celebrating with her, her former fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, marked the day publicly with a tribute to the mother of his daughter.

Wladimir Marked Hayden’s 37th Birthday With a Heartbreaking Tribute

“Today is Hayden’s birthday. Instead of celebrating the way we had planned, today we celebrate her life, her spirit, and the love she brought into this world.” The message was particularly poignant because Wladimir and Hayden had remained connected through their daughter, Kaya, even after their romantic relationship ended.

Wladimir thanked Hayden’s fans, friends, and everyone who had reached out to him and the family following her death. “At a time filled with so much sadness, your kindness has reminded me that there is still so much good in humanity,” he added.

He then made a request that was less about Hayden’s career or public image and more about how people treat one another. “If you’re reading this, I ask just one thing: even if only for a moment, think about LOVE. Reach out to a friend. Forgive someone. Be kind.”

“Love is a superpower. Use it. Happy Birthday, Hayden. ❤️ You are loved, you are missed, and you will never be forgotten.”

The words landed on a day that was supposed to have been filled with celebration. Because according to new details, Hayden had already made plans for exactly how she wanted to spend her birthday week.

Hayden Had Been Planning a Trip to See Kaya

Hayden’s daughter, Kaya, was not simply someone she hoped to see someday. She had reportedly been planning to visit her in Germany during the week of her 37th birthday.

According to Page Six, a source close to Hayden said the actress was particularly excited about the trip. “She was planning on spending the week of her birthday visiting her daughter in Germany,” the source said. “She was so excited to see her and was telling everyone how much she was looking forward to spending time with her.”

The planned visit carried special significance given the complicated history surrounding Hayden’s relationship with her daughter. Hayden had also been planning a second reunion involving some of the people from one of the most important chapters of her career.

She Also Wanted a Nashville Reunion

She had reconnected in June with former Nashville co-star Sylvia Jefferies while promoting her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. Sylvia, who played Juliette Barnes’ mother Jolene Barnes on the ABC drama, told Page Six that she and Hayden had discussed attending a performance by their former co-star Charles Esten in Greenville.

The plan was to attend Charles’s August 14 show at The Foundry and surprise him. “We were going to try to surprise him because it was my birthday and then her birthday, of course, is on Friday. … But that didn’t happen,” Sylvia said.

Sylvia recalled how Hayden reacted when she told her that Charles would be in town. “She’s like, ‘Oh, mama, that sounds like so much fun. Let me see what I can do.'”

The actress said she had been thrilled to reconnect with Hayden, particularly because she felt Hayden was in a different place while promoting her memoir.

But the reunion never happened. Sylvia said it was devastating to think Hayden had been so close to the event. “And just for [Esten] and I to know that she was right here. It just kind of tears you up. … It just was devastating.”

The location makes the missed reunion even more striking. Hayden ultimately died at an Airbnb in Greenville, just a short distance from the venue where Charles was performing.

But the plans she made for that week were only part of a much bigger picture surrounding Hayden’s final months. Before her death, people close to her had also spoken about physical problems that had affected her mobility, while questions about her relationship with Brian remained largely hidden from public view.

Her Final Months Were Marked by Increasing Mobility Problems

In March, Hayden was photographed at LAX using crutches while accompanied by Brian. When asked about the crutches, Hayden explained in footage obtained by the Daily Mail that she was dealing with “some pinched nerves in my lower back.”

She nevertheless tried to reassure people around her. She added that she was ‘on the mend,’ smiling and giving a thumbs-up before getting into a black SUV.

But according to people close to her, the problem was more serious than that brief public explanation suggested. Hayden’s hairdresser and friend Erick Orellana told Page Six that she had experienced severe pain earlier in the year.

“I know she suffered earlier this year with her back,” Erick said. He described the pain as “really severe ” and said it affected Hayden’s mobility.

“At one point, it was even hard for her to move her legs,” Erick said. A second source told Page Six that Hayden sometimes appeared tired and also experienced anxiety. “Earlier this year, she did seem a little tired at times. But she was a night owl, and… she has a lot on her plate,” the source said.

The insider also claimed Hayden “suffered from anxiety at times” and would “occasionally take medication for that.”

“And every so often that could impact her speech,” the source said. Erick nevertheless believed Hayden appeared to be improving. But then came footage from May that has taken on a very different meaning following her death.

A May Video Showed Hayden Struggling to Walk

One of Hayden’s last videos was filmed in New York in May while she was promoting her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. The footage, shared by Elder Ordonez on Instagram, showed Hayden walking while attending promotional appearances.

The video was posted after her death with a message expressing heartbreak over the footage and offering prayers for her family and loved ones. Viewers quickly focused on the way Hayden appeared to be walking.

One commenter wrote, “She looked a bit unsteady on her feet🥺♥️.” Another said, “He was walking strangely at that moment, it seemed like something was wrong. 😢 Rip 🕊️” A third commenter wondered, “Her walk looked like she on some type of pain maybe, or it’s just me idk.”

Others asked, “Anyone noticed how she walks?” One more person wrote, “Something was definitely wrong with her feet 😢” The Daily Mail also reported that May footage appeared to show Hayden struggling to walk while out in New York, with her right leg visibly giving her trouble.

Later that day, she reportedly relied on an assistant for support as she arrived at CBS Studios. She held the woman’s hand tightly as she walked inside, even as she smiled for those around her. Observers did not simply imagine the physical problems.

Hayden had spoken publicly about what she described as nerve damage in her lower back during a May interview with Women’s Health. “I quite literally woke up and felt nothing but pins and needles from my waist down,” she shared. “I wasn’t able to bend my toes or lift my foot at all. No one was able to give me a solid answer.”

She said the uncertainty became frightening enough that she wondered whether she could remain that way permanently. “It was like that for so long, that I was sitting there going, ‘Oh my gosh, am I gonna be paralyzed for the rest of my… life?'”

“It’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to me physically, for sure.” None of those reported health problems has been established as a cause of Hayden’s death.

Another complicated part of her final months was not fully known to the public at the time. For years, Hayden and Brian’s relationship appeared to have gone through repeated breakups and reconciliations.

Hayden and Brian Were Apparently Still Together in Secret

But according to TMZ, the public version of their relationship was not the whole story. A source close to Brian claimed the couple had not broken up as many times as the public had been led to believe and were actually together while Hayden promoted her memoir in the months before her death.

They reportedly kept it quiet for her career. Hayden’s team allegedly believed Brian was “bad for business” while she was promoting This Is Me: A Reckoning. According to TMZ, the couple’s complicated history was seen as potentially damaging to book sales.

So, while Hayden and Brian were reportedly still romantically involved, they kept their relationship private. The secrecy apparently went beyond simply avoiding public appearances together.

TMZ reported that the pair remained in constant communication during Hayden’s promotional tour, while people in their inner circle reportedly knew they were still together. Hayden was also asked about her relationship with Brian during a May appearance and reportedly laughed at the idea of marrying him.

Their private relationship is particularly notable because Brian had previously served jail time after pleading no contest to two charges stemming from alleged violent incidents involving Hayden.

Brian Had a Legal Setback Just Days Before Hayden Died

Just three days before Hayden’s death, Brian suffered another legal setback. According to TMZ, a judge denied his request to have his past felony domestic violence convictions reduced to misdemeanors and his request to have the convictions expunged.

The ruling came on August 13, just days before Hayden died. Brian had pleaded no contest in April 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend following a series of incidents involving Hayden between May 2019 and January 2020.

He had originally faced an eight-count criminal case. According to Page Six, Brian’s petition noted that he had fulfilled the conditions of his probation.

He had previously been sentenced to 45 days in county jail, four years of formal probation, 52 mandatory domestic violence classes and a five-year restraining order. He ultimately served 33 days after receiving credit for 12 days already spent in custody.

Behind the headlines surrounding Hayden Panettiere‘s final months was a deeply personal family story involving Kaya, the daughter she shared with Wladimir.

Hayden spent years hearing other people tell the story of why her daughter, Kaya, lives thousands of miles away. But the now-late actress had increasingly filled in the missing pieces herself, and the reality she describes is far more complicated than simply “giving up” her child.

From the postpartum struggles that followed Kaya’s birth to the devastating custody papers Hayden later signed, motherhood did not unfold the way the “Nashville” star once imagined it would.

Today, however, her daughter is thriving and speaks an astonishing number of languages. She also shared an “incredible” bond with her mom and shares the same with her dad. And there is one painful misunderstanding that the actress especially hopes Kaya herself never takes away from her mother’s story.

Kaya’s Arrival Made Hayden Panettiere a Mom for the First Time

Kaya was born on December 9, 2014, in Hawaii. According to People’s report announcing Kaya’s birth, the baby weighed 7 lbs., 14 oz. and measured 20 inches long.

“We are over the moon and madly in love!” the new parents said at the time. Hayden had largely kept quiet about her pregnancy, although her baby bump naturally became harder to hide. At the 2014 Emmys, she accidentally revealed that she and Wladimir were expecting a girl while talking about decorating and shopping for the baby.

“I’m thrilled that I am having a girl first because I feel like I know a lot about raising a strong woman,” she told Hello! Magazine while discussing her pregnancy and then-impending motherhood. “I feel very empowered myself and I think my daughter will, too,” she added.

At the time, Hayden was engaged to Wladimir. The couple had announced their engagement in 2013, more than a year before Kaya arrived. The first days of motherhood brought all the expected exhaustion, and some surprises.

Hayden later joked that she finally got her first uninterrupted night of sleep because Wladimir’s mother had been eager to take care of the then-newborn overnight.

“Wlad’s mom was desperate to take the baby for a night,” Hayden recalled in People’s first-photo story about the new family. “She looks like she didn’t get much sleep, but I feel well-rested!”

She described becoming a parent as “such a surreal experience and so out of body,” saying that she and Wladimir were simply getting to know the little person who had spent months growing inside her. Physically, however, recovery from childbirth was not easy.

“I’m limping around,” Hayden said at the time, adding that she was still trying to understand what pregnancy had done to her body and which changes might be temporary or permanent. She even joked that she felt “like an 80-year-old woman trying to go down the stairs.”

Kaya, meanwhile, was described by her mom as an easy and very sweet baby, albeit one with what Hayden called an “insatiable appetite.” But behind those tender early moments, Hayden would eventually face a struggle she said she had not been prepared to recognize.

Years later, Hayden explained that she suffered from postpartum depression after Kaya’s birth. The actress said part of what made the experience so frightening was that she did not understand what postpartum depression was or realize she should be watching for it.

“I wish I knew about postpartum depression. I wish I knew to look out for it,” she told E! News while reflecting on her experience in 2023. Hayden said she thought “there was something seriously wrong” with her and turned to alcohol in an attempt to make herself feel better.

She recalled thinking, “Fireball will fix this — duh!” before discovering that any relief was fleeting and ultimately made things worse. The isolation was another painful component. Because Hayden had not known what she was experiencing, she felt she should somehow have been able to overcome it on her own.

Her struggle with postpartum depression was something she had spoken about publicly years earlier, but she later connected those emotional difficulties to a much broader battle. Hayden had also candidly addressed her struggles involving opioids and alcohol, which became part of the circumstances surrounding Kaya eventually living with her father.

The actress said she wished new mothers were told that an immediate, overwhelming sense of attachment is not the only possible reaction to giving birth. She recalled wanting someone to explain that it was not abnormal to meet a newborn and initially see a “crazy little creation” whom a parent would come to love more deeply as they got to know the child.

The Mayo Clinic’s information on postpartum depression cited in E!’s report notes that symptoms can include severe mood swings and difficulty bonding with a baby. For Hayden, what followed was not just a private battle with her health; it ultimately changed the day-to-day structure of her daughter’s childhood.

Kaya Went to Live with Her Father

When Kaya was still very young, she began living with Wladimir in Ukraine while Hayden was struggling. The circumstances surrounding that arrangement have become one of the most misunderstood — and emotionally charged — parts of the actress’ life story.

During a September 2022 appearance on “Red Table Talk,” Hayden was asked about the idea that she and Wladimir had simply agreed it was best for Kaya to be with her dad after the couple had already split for good in 2018. Her answer was striking.

“At first it was not because it wasn’t a discussion,” she said during the “Red Table Talk” conversation about relinquishing custody. Hayden explained that had Wladimir approached her and suggested that Kaya stay with him temporarily because of what she was going through, she probably would have understood the reasoning.

“Okay, that makes sense. I get it. I’ll come there, you know, to visit and stuff like that,” she said of how she believed such a conversation might have gone. Instead, Hayden said the way the situation unfolded was “very upsetting.” Then came the paperwork.

“I mean, it was the worst signing those papers,” Hayden recalled. “It was like the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life.”

She clarified that the documents gave Wladimir full custody. At that point, Hayden said her intention was to focus on herself, recover, and eventually reach a place where the arrangement could change. She believed that once she was better, Kaya might return and she would have more time with her daughter. “But that didn’t happen,” Hayden stated.

Kaya was nearly three when the arrangement changed, and she initially believed her daughter was simply visiting her father in Ukraine. “It wasn’t fully my decision,” Hayden said on “Red Table Talk,” as recounted in People’s 2024 look at Kaya’s life and her relationship with her mom. “In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there.”

That detail helps explain why Hayden has pushed back so strongly against the narrative that she casually chose to walk away from motherhood.

Hayden Later Said She Was ‘Guilt Ridden’

By May 2026, Hayden was speaking even more candidly about what she felt during that period. At a panel connected to her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” she described the crushing guilt of knowing she was not in a position to parent Kaya the way she wanted to.

The actress admitted she had felt “guilt ridden” over being “completely incapable” of parenting her now-11-year-old daughter at the time, according to Page Six’s report on her emotional recollection.

She also remembered a remark that particularly hurt. “The worst thing that somebody said to me is that it was a personal choice that I was making,” Hayden said. Her response made clear just how impossible that characterization felt to her.

“Who would choose to feel like this? Like, how could you even say that to me?” she asked. Hayden described Kaya as a healthy, beautiful child who represented “everything to celebrate,” making her inability to function as the mother she wanted to be even more painful.

“And I’m completely incapable of doing it,” she said. “I felt so guilt ridden [sic] that I was incapable of doing it.” Another moment seared itself into her memory: While walking through an airport, Hayden spotted a magazine cover featuring her face and a headline asking why she had given up her daughter.

“You might as well have taken a knife and stabbed me in the heart,” she recalled. Hayden insisted anyone who truly knew her would know she would have done “absolutely anything” for Kaya. But she argued that loving a child can sometimes mean accepting a decision that does not make the parent feel better.

“Sometimes that means not what you want as a mom or what’s going to make you feel good as a parent, but what’s best for them,” she said. Even the actual custody signing remains a painful memory.

Hayden shared that her father was present, while several other people unexpectedly arrived to witness her signing the paperwork. She recalled sitting in a restaurant and clenching her teeth so tightly so she would not begin sobbing.

Then, she heard people laughing and chuckling nearby. “I can’t believe you can watch somebody who’s obviously doing one of the most painful things in the world,” she remembered thinking.

Afterward, Hayden said she went into the restaurant bathroom and locked herself inside as she confronted “the reality of the situation.” Her memoir revisits experiences from that deeply difficult period of her life. But Kaya’s story did not stop with the custody papers. As Hayden recovered, another consideration emerged: her daughter had built a life of her own.

By the Time Hayden Was Healthy, Kaya Had Built a Life Her Mom Did Not Want to Disrupt

In May 2026, Hayden gave one of her most expansive explanations yet of why Kaya remained with her father in Ukraine even after the actress got healthier. Speaking on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, she explained that Kaya had spent substantial time in Europe and was deeply rooted there.

She had family and friends; she had extracurricular activities; she was learning the languages around her, and, in Hayden’s view, her daughter had already built “a beautiful life.”

By the time she herself finally became healthy, Hayden explained, “I felt like it would have been unfair of me to and selfish of me to try to pull her out [sic] away from this life that she had […] created.” Today, Hayden’s daughter has grown up immersed in a multilingual environment.

By age 9, her mother said Kaya could speak English, Russian, Ukrainian and German, and was beginning to learn French. “She’s a genius!” the proud mom had boasted in 2024.

She also contrasted Kaya’s experience with language education in the United States, arguing that American children often begin learning additional languages only after their brains are less naturally receptive to them.

“But when they’re babies and young, they’re like a sponge,” she said. “You can teach them anything.” Hayden joked that Kaya might not appreciate her language skills yet, but her mother kept assuring her that one day she will. Language is hardly Kaya’s only interest, as she is also, according to her mom, obsessed with horses.

Hayden believed that particular passion may run in the family. “I have horseback riding in my genetics,” she said, noting that her great-uncle once won the Kentucky Derby. She also shared one particularly funny glimpse into Kaya’s enthusiasm.

Hayden received a video of her daughter watching “Racing Stripes,” a movie she apparently loves to replay. Kaya was sitting on a toy hippo and pretending to race it with such enthusiasm that Hayden joked she feared the toy’s ears were going to be ripped off.

The girl is also a strong swimmer and loves the water — another quality Hayden had recognized in herself. “She’s just like me,” the actress previously said. Hayden recalled spending plenty of time in her pool while pregnant with Kaya and working on “Nashville.” “And she came out just loving water,” Hayden said.

By 2026, Hayden revealed that Kaya was not merely interested in horses but actually rides them. Yet the detail that perhaps surprised listeners most was how highly Hayden spoke of her daughter’s emotional development.

Hayden Had Shared That Her Daughter Is ‘Happy,’ ‘Solid’ and Knows She Is Loved

At 11, Kaya has been living what her mother called an “incredible life.” “She’s an incredible little girl,” Hayden had shared with Jay. The actress also spoke about the support system surrounding her. More importantly, she believed her daughter knew she had two parents who love her.

Hayden said she was confident in her heart that Kaya felt supported and insisted that their physical separation had not destroyed their relationship. “I have an incredible relationship with her,” the mom said. Hayden would travel to see Kaya as much as possible and spent significant amounts of time talking to her through FaceTime.

Their conversations were apparently not limited to quick check-ins. “We talk about really deep things,” Hayden revealed. She described what they shared as a “really intense, incredible” bond.

The actress also said she had paid close attention to ensuring Kaya never interpreted the circumstances of her childhood as abandonment. “She in no way feels abandoned,” Hayden made clear. That had been something the mother said she had consciously stayed aware of.

For Hayden, parenting Kaya from another continent also meant trying to lead through example. Her daughter, she noted, was born to two very public and powerful parents pursuing dramatically different careers on separate continents, and Kaya apparently enjoyed watching both of them succeed. “She’s our biggest fan,” Hayden revealed further.

The actress believed seeing what her parents accomplish may help Kaya believe she can accomplish whatever she sets her own mind to. And Hayden saw something even more important in the way Kaya carries herself.

She described her daughter as “good” and “solid” and said Kaya’s ability to love herself offers powerful reassurance that she feels loved. Watching an 11-year-old already show an ability to love both herself and other people, Hayden said, is more than a parent could ask for.

Speaking to Jay, Hayden Also Wanted to Correct One Persistent Misconception

That picture is noticeably different from the image suggested by years of headlines about Hayden “giving up” her daughter. She addressed that characterization directly on Jay’s May podcast. “I think there’s been a common and, you know, a very common misconception that I just gave up my child,” she said. “That could not be further from the truth.”

She had hoped her podcast conversation — along with the fuller account in her memoir — would finally give people enough context to understand how everything unfolded, and acknowledged that the outcome still came with grief.

Jay referred to a passage in Hayden’s memoir about grieving the mother she thought she would be. The actress admitted that grief had “gotten the best” of her many times. In the beginning, she said, it truly was grief. But eventually, the emotion changed.

Because of the relationship she had with Kaya, and because of the way events ultimately unfolded, Hayden said she had reached a place of being capable of feeling profound gratitude alongside the pain. Kaya, she stressed, has “an incredible father” and “an incredible family.”

The situation was still not the version of motherhood Hayden once hoped to experience. Yet she said she felt lucky that Kaya is safe, well-rounded, and was deeply connected to her. That bond was once one of her greatest fears.

When Kaya went away, Hayden worried she might have had to fight extremely hard to maintain any relationship with her daughter. Instead, she later said the outcome became “in a lot of ways” a blessing. That does not mean she did not ache for more. “I always want her here,” Hayden said. “I always miss her.” “But that’s just not the way life is right at this moment,” she acknowledged.

Hayden was also thinking well beyond Kaya’s childhood. She believed that one day her daughter would be an adult with the freedom to decide for herself where she wants to live and how she wants to structure her life, and the actress had faith in what may have happened then.

Hayden believed Kaya would come to her and that the two would have had an “incredible relationship and bond and friendship” of the kind many parents never get to experience with their adult children.

Kaya’s Parents Still Remained Close to Each Other After Their Split

One thing that seemed to have made the unconventional arrangement easier was Hayden’s relationship with Wladimir. “Wlad and I are very close,” she said in 2026. Despite no longer being a couple, she said all three of them communicated regularly.

Sometimes that meant a three-way FaceTime call between Hayden, Kaya, and Wladimir, whom Hayden described as “incredibly supportive.” She said he has brought Kaya to the United States, allowing their daughter to spend time with members of Hayden’s family.

Kaya was able to know her great-grandparents before Hayden’s “grandpy” and “papa” died. “That was really important to me,” the actress explained. Kaya still has Hayden’s nana and grandmother in her life, and she even has an affectionate nickname for one of them: “Super Nana.”

As for Wladimir, the actress went even further than simply describing them as cordial co-parents. “Wlad and I are still best friends,” she said. Hayden believed few people in the world knew her as well as he did.

She also said they continued to have tremendous love for each other, and, perhaps most importantly for Kaya, respect. That respect had translated into a specific parenting rule. Hayden explained that her own childhood shaped an important choice she and Wladimir made after their romantic relationship ended.

Growing up, she said she heard her mother speak negatively about her father. “It hurt to constantly, you know, hear the person that you love be put down,” Hayden explained. Because of that experience, she and Wladimir had promised they would never speak negatively about one another to Kaya.

According to Hayden, both had kept that promise. Instead, they made sure to speak only highly of each other to their daughter. Additionally, Hayden said she checked that Kaya remained respectful toward and loving with her father.

She also made sure Kaya understood how highly she regarded him, having called Wladimir a “hero” and “one of the bravest people” she knew. And by her account, Kaya “loves both of us to death.”

That united front matters because the actress knew her daughter may eventually encounter a much less tidy version of their family story. In fact, some of that version is now contained in Hayden’s own memoir, which also surrounds a concern she has voiced perhaps most poignantly.

There Is One Thing Hayden Did Not Want Kaya to Believe

Hayden released “This Is Me: A Reckoning” on May 19, 2026. The book examines extraordinarily personal parts of her life, including childhood fame, romantic relationships, her younger brother Jansen’s death, difficult experiences in Hollywood, and the painful circumstances surrounding Kaya living primarily with her father.

At a Los Angeles event discussing the book, Hayden was asked to look ahead to the day when Kaya herself might read it. “I don’t want her ever to read it and think any of it was her fault,” Hayden said in People’s report on what she hopes Kaya understands about the memoir.

“I love her so dearly,” she continued. Hayden also acknowledged that the complicated story contained in the book is “a lot” for an 11-year-old to process. Still, she intended to continue protecting Kaya while her daughter is still young.

Hayden further explained that she was struggling with her mental health and substance abuse at the time and had lost her sense of herself. She also pushed back against another misconception — the idea that she had always been forced into treatment. Instead, she said she had been the one asking for help.

Hayden described herself as a “mother lion” who would have “burnt the whole world down” for her child. Still, Wladimir believed Kaya should remain in Europe while Hayden sought treatment for alcoholism and substance abuse. “That was incredibly difficult,” the late mom admitted.

“The fact that my child wasn’t going to be with me all day, every day was…you can’t put words to it.” For Hayden, it was not one clean emotion but “multiple feelings really layered together.”

Larry Birkhead has spent years giving his daughter room to grow beyond one of Hollywood’s most famous legacies. Now, as Dannielynn Birkhead turns 20, the latest glimpses of the young woman she’s become have fans doing a serious double take.

The proud dad recently celebrated the milestone with a touching Instagram birthday tribute featuring a montage of Dannielynn through the years, from childhood memories with her father to photos showing her at 20. Set to Lenny Kravitz’s “Happy Birthday,” the post was simple and affectionate.

Larry wrote, “Happy 20th Birthday Dannielynn! ❤️ Love, Dad ❤️,” before sharing details about two of the outfits featured in the montage, including pieces from Social Collusion for Hot Topic and a Ghost T-shirt from Hot Topic. But while the message itself was brief, the pictures prompted anything but a quiet reaction.

Fans Can’t Believe Dannielynn Is Already 20

The comments quickly filled with people stunned by the milestone, while others drew comparisons between Dannielynn and her late mother, Anna Nicole Smith. One person gushed, “Between you and Anna Nicole, that girl hit the face card jackpot! Absolutely beautiful!”

Another wrote, “Oh my goodness 20 [sic] already!!! Happy Birthday!! She looks so much like her beautiful mother! Anna would be so proud of her & extremely proud of the way you raised her!!🎂🎉🎁🎊.”

A third follower was similarly struck by the resemblance, commenting, “🎉🎉🎉 Happy birthday! I can’t believe she’s 20. Her mom would be proud of you and her. She looks just like her mom beautiful [sic].”

Someone else appeared stunned by just how quickly the years had gone by: “How is she 20 already?!! Omg time flies. Happy birthday 🎉🎊.” A fellow observer also praised both daughter and dad, writing, “I can’t believe she’s 20! What a beautiful woman she’s turned into. Smart. Well grounded. Good job, Daddy.”

Another commenter reflected on Anna Nicole’s absence: “Happy birthday. Her mom would be so proud of the job you did raising her. She is a beautiful young lady.” One follower highlighted Larry’s years as a parent, sharing, “❤️❤️❤️ Aww, how time flies. You did so much to raise her on your own. She’s lovely and loved. And all grown up. Bless you both, [sic] what a journey.”

And another added, “Your mother is beaming with pride .. and your father has done an amazing job .. happy birthday .. [sic].”

The comments underline something Dannielynn herself has been increasingly open about: while she appreciates the connection people see between her and her famous late mother, she wants there to be room for people to see Dannielynn, too.

Dannielynn Is Carving Out an Identity of Her Own

In May 2026, the then-19-year-old spoke to People at the Barnstable Brown Gala ahead of the Kentucky Derby and revealed that her current academic interests could lead her somewhere very different from her mother’s career.

“I’m majoring in forensic science,” she said, adding that she might eventually double major in something related to culinary studies because she loves baking. Larry said he was proud regardless of which direction she ultimately chooses.

He acknowledged that plenty of people would like to see his daughter follow Anna Nicole into entertainment and modeling, and while Dannielynn has considered it, he said, her current focus is on forensics and criminal studies.

“I’m excited for her to just follow any path that she wants,” Larry said, adding, “So I’m all about whatever she wants.”

He also shared that his daughter had earned good grades during her first semester of college, although getting through it had required a final push.

“You know, it was a little bit of a struggle to get across the finish line, like these horse races, but she got the steam at the end, and she pushed it across. She did a great job,” he said. “So I’m proud of her in every way.”

The father and daughter are familiar faces at the annual Barnstable Brown Gala, which benefits the Barnstable Brown Diabetes Center at the University of Kentucky.

The event has raised and donated more than $22 million since it was founded by twins Patricia and Priscilla Barnstable, their mother Wilma Barnstable, and Patricia’s late husband, Dr. David E. Brown.

Yet the 2026 event also became an especially visible moment in Dannielynn’s efforts to define herself on her own terms.

She explained that comparisons to Anna Nicole still make her feel good because she loves her mother. “She’s super pretty, and I like being compared to her in the sense of like, ‘Oh, I’m pretty too.’ But I also like being known as my own person,” Dannielynn said.

She continued, “Because it’s always like, ‘Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter,’ and never just Dannielynn. So I’m hoping my look right now will kind of help with that in a way.” Larry’s response was just as supportive: “I’m excited that she’s just being her own individual self.”

A Bolder Look and a Newfound Confidence

That desire for individuality was particularly apparent when Dannielynn debuted a bold style change at the May 1 gala in Louisville, Kentucky.

As Hello! reported, she opted for an edgy platinum wolf cut with black tips and a floor-length black dress, embracing a noticeably different aesthetic from some of her previous Derby appearances. Dannielynn told Access Hollywood that college had helped her learn more about herself and her style.

“I learned to just be myself and not let anything stop me,” she said. She also had a clear response for anyone who thought they should have a say in her appearance.

“Someone’s like, ‘Hey, you actually can’t do your hair like that.’ Who cares! I’m doing it. I’m not gonna let someone dictate what I wanna do or who I wanna be, because life is short, and I think you should be who you wanna be, no matter what,” she said.

Dannielynn added, “I probably feel the most confident and happy and like myself I’ve ever felt right now.” Larry similarly explained that the look represented something new for his daughter.

Speaking to People about her Derby style, he said people often expect Dannielynn to wear something connected with Anna Nicole, something she has done on several occasions.

This time, however, he said it was about Dannielynn showing her own sense of style, with his daughter describing the theme as “goth rock.”

The annual Kentucky Derby festivities carry another layer of meaning for the family. Larry met Anna Nicole there in 2003, and the pair began dating the following year. Larry has since called their yearly return to the event something of a “growth chart” for Dannielynn.

“We had a really great time, and it’s kind of been a tradition that we would go every year,” he previously said. “That’s where I met Anna Nicole Smith. And it’s something that I’ve taken my daughter back every year since. She’s old enough to kind of understand what it is.”

Growing up Mostly Outside the Spotlight

Anna Nicole died at 39 in 2007, just five months after Dannielynn was born. Following a paternity dispute, DNA testing ultimately confirmed Larry as Dannielynn’s father.

Since then, he has largely raised his only child away from the glare surrounding her mother’s celebrity, occasionally sharing updates around birthdays, Derby appearances, and other special moments.

Larry has also said that Dannielynn reminds him of Anna Nicole in more ways than appearance, previously describing his daughter as “generous like her mom.”

Still, keeping Dannielynn away from entertainment completely may not always have been possible, particularly as she grew old enough to decide what she wanted for herself.

Larry Once Had ‘Mixed Feelings’ About Dannielynn Entering Entertainment

In May 2025, Larry revealed that his then-18-year-old daughter had begun showing an interest in modeling and acting after years of turning down such opportunities. Dannielynn had taken a year off before college and wanted to keep the school she planned to attend private.

“At the same time, she’s actually interested now … [in] starting to model and act after all these years of people asking her to do it and saying no,” Larry explained. “Now, she’s actually maybe wanting to put her foot in the water and say, ‘Is this something that I really want to do?'”

Larry admitted, “I have mixed feelings about it, but I want to be supportive.” “It’s totally opposite of what I had envisioned,” he continued. “But at the same time, it’s my job to be a supportive parent. I don’t want to be a stage parent. I’ll be a supportive parent.”

He also recognized that the decision increasingly belonged to Dannielynn herself. “At the end of the day, she’s 18 now, so I really don’t have any say,” Larry said at the time. “I mean, she listens to me, she trusts me in my guidance and everything. We’re such a team.”

A year later, the birthday montage offers another snapshot of that journey. The childhood pictures, father-daughter memories, and newest photos reveal just how much has changed, and why so many followers could hardly believe the little girl they remembered is now 20.

Viola Davis marked Mother’s Day 2026 with a post that stopped her followers mid-scroll — and it wasn’t just the sweet caption that caught their attention.

The Emmy and Oscar winner shared photos with her daughter, Genesis Tennon, on May 11, flooding her feed with love. What fans saw in those images sparked a wave of reactions that has been hard to ignore.

Davis has never been shy about celebrating Genesis publicly, bringing her to red carpets and major Hollywood events for over a decade. But this Mother’s Day moment felt different — and the comments section made that very clear.

A Message From the Heart

On May 11, the Oscar-winning actress shared loving photos of the pair together on Instagram and wrote, “A joy and privilege to be your mom. Love my G DEEP!!!!❤️❤️❤️.”

The nickname “G DEEP” — Davis’s affectionate shorthand for Genesis — gave the post an intimate, personal touch that fans immediately responded to.

Fans Could Not Believe How Grown Up Genesis Looks

While many followers praised the mother-daughter bond in the photos, others were stunned by how much Genesis has grown.

One person commented, “How did she get so big?!?! Gag.” Another wrote, “Oh she is a beauty! Like her mama! ❤️❤️”

Several fans also pointed out how much Genesis resembles her famous mother. “Love her hair!! She’s beautiful!” one Instagram user commented, while another added, “She’s a beauty like her mom.”

Others reflected on how quickly time has passed since fans first saw Genesis as a young child beside Davis at public events. “Happy Mother’s Day! She is growing up beautifully!!” one follower wrote.

The reactions continued on Facebook, where fans shared similar thoughts about Genesis’ appearance in the new photos. “I didn’t realize your daughter is so much older now — looks like she’s like the same height as you! Beautiful ladies, wow,” one commenter wrote.

Another person added, “She is looking so grown and absolutely GORGEOUS, just like her Mama 😍.” A third fan wrote, “Happy Mothers day Viola. Raising a strong wise daughter…blessings to your whole family with love ❤️.”

Genesis has been a fixture at her mother’s side since at least 2014, appearing at red carpet events, award ceremonies, and premieres. What began as a little girl tagging along to Hollywood events has quietly turned into something else entirely.

This gallery captures her transformation from a young girl to the poised teenager fans are admiring today:

2014

2015

2016

2017

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2025

2026

The Grammy winner showed up to the 2026 BET Awards looking like a completely different woman than fans remember from just a few years ago. Her gown told one story. Her body told another. And by the end of the night, social media couldn’t decide which one to talk about first.

What she wore — and what it revealed about the last three years of her life — quickly became one of the most discussed moments of the entire award show. This piece features a visual timeline of her transformation.

Lizzo Steals the Spotlight at the 2026 BET Awards

The musical powerhouse commanded total attention from the cameras during her arrival on June 28. She stepped out in a chocolate-brown gown featuring sparkling sheer panels that skimmed the floor.

Her bold wardrobe choice perfectly highlighted her dramatic weight loss transformation. The stunning outfit allowed her to effortlessly dominate the room as she posed for the photographers.

The sheer elegance of the fabric draped beautifully as she moved through the crowd. Her undeniable presence is fully visible in the close-up shots from the star-studded evening.

Social Media Goes Wild

The internet immediately went into overdrive as soon as the images started circulating. A tidal wave of praise flooded across various social media platforms.

Among the first comments were simple but enthusiastic compliments, including “Best Dressed,” “Stunning 🔥🔥,” and “Stunning gown, she looks amazing.”

The overwhelming consensus was that the hitmaker had achieved a monumental style milestone. One amazed commentator declared it an iconic look before adding, “I can’t get my jaw off the floor.”

One fan wrote, “This is an iconic look @lizzobeeating lizzo Lioness 🦁 Queen 👑 Yass 👏🤩🧡♾️✨.” Another fan simply called her “The goddess” as the photos continued to go viral online.

She Had Debuted a New Silhouette in January

This sensational response echoes the intense online chatter from earlier in the year, when she first debuted her changing style. An earlier pink carpet appearance from this past January revealed a noticeably slimmer figure and a new approach to style that quickly set social media alight.

Lizzo made a striking entrance at Paris Hilton’s “Infinite Icon: A Visual Memoir” premiere in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 20, 2026. The 37-year-old singer wore a form-fitting, baby pink bandage mini dress with a wide scoop neckline and a daringly mid-thigh hemline, highlighting her legs and reshaped silhouette.

She completed the look with clear studded open-toe heels, a nude-pink manicure, and oversized rhinestone-encrusted hoop earrings. Her voluminous half-up ponytail fell in soft curls, paired with shimmer eyeshadow, long lashes, defined brows, and a glossy nude lip.

Her appearance set off a flurry of online reactions, with fans praising her transformation and others critiquing her outfit. One person wrote, “Wowww she’s a whole different person!”

A fan gushed, “I love it! At least her weight loss looks NATURAL and not Ozempic sick like!” Another chimed in, “She’s been beautiful… ✨️✨️big or small that face is a 10.” But not all comments were kind.

One person remarked, “She definitely looks good. But her dress should be longer, and she shouldn’t wear toe out shoes.” Another said, “If she wanted to lose weight, I’m happy for her but that mini is not flattering.”

Harshest of all were the ones focused on her feet, “Those k-nuckle cow feet though…..” and “Just don’t zoom in on her feet.” One observer concluded, “She looks uncomfortable. The dress needs to be longer. At least a smidgen below the knee.”

The Journey Behind the Transformation

While the world is celebrating these dazzling red carpet results now, this journey actually began long before this weekend. Back in November 2025, Lizzo opened up about her experiences in an intimate personal online essay reflecting on her life changes.

In the essay, Lizzo revealed that her weight loss actually began back in the fall of 2023, in the middle of one of the hardest periods of her life.

At the time, she had just been hit with a wave of lawsuits and public accusations tied to her work environment, and she described becoming “deeply suicidal.”

She wrote that she cut off loved ones, stopped trusting people, and sat in isolation because she felt powerless to defend herself publicly. In the past, she said, she would have coped by binge eating. That time, something was different.

“I didn’t care about my body,” she wrote. “I didn’t want to feel safe.” She blamed herself for what had happened, telling herself she shouldn’t have been so trusting. In her own words, she began to “rot.”

From Pilates to Purpose

The shift started small. Lizzo turned to Pilates, working exclusively with Black women instructors, treating the practice as physical therapy. She has said she cried during sessions. The weight loss that followed wasn’t dramatic at first, because it wasn’t yet intentional.

That changed the following winter, when she recorded a video declaring she wanted to lose weight on purpose. Therapy helped her understand why. She came to see her weight as something that had functioned like a shield, a comfort zone, even a kind of armor that had carried her through hard years.

So she reframed the process entirely. Every pound that came off wasn’t “lost.” It was “released.”

Addressing the Backlash Directly

Lizzo has never pretended her decision was purely medical, even though she’s acknowledged real benefits, including less strain on her joints and lower health risks tied to her weight. But she’s been clear that the deeper motivation was emotional, not physical.

She’s also explained why she went years without revealing exact numbers: she didn’t want fans holding themselves to a standard built around her body.

That changed only when she began sharing side-by-side photos documenting her results from lymphatic massage treatments, a move that drew its own wave of criticism from parts of the body-positive community she helped build.

Lizzo didn’t shy away from the contradiction. She’s said plainly that a woman should be allowed to change her body without having to justify it to anyone, fans included.

A Movement in Tension With Itself

The singer has been candid that her changing body put her in an uncomfortable position. As one of the first mainstream artists to popularize body positivity, she found herself accused of being “performative,” and at times, of secretly harboring fatphobia, despite years of work creating opportunities for plus-size models, dancers, and performers.

She’s also pointed to a broader shift she’s watched happen across the industry: plus-size models losing bookings, extended sizing disappearing from retailers, and a wave of formerly outspoken “big girls” quietly shrinking.

She’s said she still considers herself a big girl. “I am still a proud big girl. Objectively Big. Over 200 pounds. And I love myself as much as I’ve loved myself no matter what the scale says.”

For Lizzo, the BET Awards gown wasn’t just a fashion statement. It was the visible result of a process that started in crisis years ago and has, by her own account, turned into something closer to peace.

Her transformation follows years of candid conversations about food, fitness, and self-acceptance. More recently, Wynonna has focused on caring for herself in her 60s, and the difference has become increasingly visible.

Wynonna’s story with weight did not begin with her latest photos. She has been talking publicly about the subject for more than two decades, often describing it as something tied to deeper emotional struggles rather than simply a number on a scale.

In 2004, she opened up about her weight in a way she had rarely done before, even with her mother, Naomi Judd, and sister, Ashley Judd.

During an appearance documented by Oprah, Wynonna explained how difficult it was to expose that part of her life. “I’ve suffered in silence, I guess,” she said in 2004. “I’ve tried so hard not to complain.”

For Wynonna, that private struggle stood in contrast with the confidence she projected as a performer. She could walk onstage and feel victorious, yet her concerns about her weight remained with her when the performance ended.

Being open about those feelings required a different kind of vulnerability. “If I’m going to do this, I’ve got to be willing to be honest,” she said. “But the pain of not changing is much greater than the pain of changing.”

Her goal, however, was never to transform herself into someone else’s idea of the ideal body. During the family conversation, Ashley discussed being perceived as “the skinny sister,” raising the issue of how their different body types had shaped the way they were viewed.

Wynonna responded by defining success on her own terms.

“I’m never going to be a runway model,” she said. “I can sing my butt off, but I’m not going to walk the runway. To make peace with something is the key. It never was a competition with me. I want to be healthy.“

That distinction would become an important part of her story. Wynonna was not simply talking about becoming thinner. She was trying to change the way she approached her body, her habits, and her health.

At the time, she had spent three months working with Oprah Winfrey’s trainer, Bob Greene, and her own trainer, Dominick DaVito.

Her exercise routine was becoming more demanding. Dominick said Wynonna was doing cardio on her own and, for the first time in three years, had managed to jog for 30 straight minutes on a treadmill.

The work was producing measurable results. According to the report, Wynonna had lost 10 inches and dropped one clothing size. Six years later, she revealed another significant chapter in her weight-loss journey.

In 2010, People reported that Wynonna had lost 55 pounds and five dress sizes.

The numbers were substantial, but Wynonna described the emotional change behind them as more important. Instead of viewing her weight as the central issue, she had begun examining why she turned to food in the first place.

“My weight was a symptom and not the problem,” she said. “I used food to soothe and reward and I don’t do that anymore.”

Her approach included what the outlet described as brain state conditioning, which was intended to help her change the way she responded to stress and food.

She also made practical changes at home. Wynonna revamped her pantry and acknowledged that certain foods could be difficult for her to moderate. She said she rarely kept doughnuts around because she could eat an entire box.

Exercise became part of her everyday life as well. Wynonna took daily walks around her property in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. She pointed to a hill behind her home as a measure of her progress, saying she had reached the point where she could walk up it without becoming sick.

Her changing wardrobe offered another indication of how differently she felt about herself. Wynonna said old photographs of the Judds often showed her covering herself with turtlenecks and coats. Following her weight loss, she was choosing jeans and lower-cut tops and even enjoying shopping for lingerie.

The physical change came during a difficult period for her health. The outlet reported that doctors found blood clots in Wynonna’s lungs in March 2010 following surgery to repair her stomach muscles. Four months later, she was involved in a head-on collision while in Salt Lake City for a performance.

Those experiences, according to the report, strengthened her determination to pursue a healthier lifestyle. But Wynonna’s relationship with weight and self-care continued to evolve long after that documented 55-pound loss.

Her life changed dramatically again in 2022, when Naomi died on April 30.

Ashley announced their mother’s death in a statement on Instagram, writing, “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness. We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.”

The Country Music Hall of Fame records Naomi’s death as April 30, 2022. The next day, Wynonna and Ashley attended the ceremony formally inducting the Judds into the institution.

An official account of the ceremony described an evening shaped by celebration and mourning. Museum CEO Kyle Young said the sisters had asked organizers to proceed despite their heartbreak.

Weeks later, Wynonna publicly described the personal work she believed she needed to do as she moved through her grief.

In a May 2022 post, she wrote about the difficulty of accepting that Naomi had died by suicide.

“I DO know, that in order to be a healthier grandparent to my firstborn grandchild Kaliyah, {born 4/13, 2 weeks & 2 days before Mom left}, to break the cycle of addiction & family dysfunction, that I must continue to show up for myself {first} and do the personal healing work,” she wrote.

Wynonna said she was committed to taking the “next right thing,” keeping weekly appointments, and accepting support from others.

“I really DO know, that I’m not able to do this grieving thing all by myself, and that it’s okay to reach out for help,” she wrote.

Closer Weekly later reported on Wynonna’s approach to food and dieting, citing an unnamed source. “She’s done with yoyo dieting and just wants to enjoy her life, get some much-needed R&R and eat what she wants and not count calories,” the source claimed.

Wynonna offered her own perspective on her well-being in 2024, the year she turned 60. Rather than focusing on a target weight or clothing size, she spoke about staying mentally fit, continuing to perform, and becoming less critical of herself.

“For me, 60 means trying to stay mentally fit and getting out there and giving everything I’ve got and having fun,” she told Us Weekly. “I’m so tired of being hard on myself. I’m learning how to be content.”

Wynonna also shared a specific step she had taken as part of that effort. “I’m working on a bit of a makeover; I hired a trainer and got a new wardrobe,” she said.

Her focus extended beyond appearance. She said she was working “really hard” on her mental health and physical well-being while relying on grief counselors, her team, and a life coach.

Soon, followers began commenting on a change.

An August 2024 post prompted multiple reactions about Wynonna’s weight. “Tell me how you lost so much weight I’m struggling to lose mine,” one netizen wrote. Another focused on what mattered to them most: “You look healthy, that is what counts!”

Other users expressed concern. “You have lost too much weight,” one commenter wrote. Someone else remarked, “I love you Wy, you need some biscuits and gravy cause you a bone now baby!!!”

Another fan wanted to know what was behind the difference. “Wowza, Wy, you look great. So beautiful. I wanna look skinny like you are now. Share the secret please,“ the person wrote.

Years of photos document Wynonna before the latest change began generating widespread comments. Seen together, the earlier images establish the visual baseline for the transformation that followed.

Before

After

More recent photographs tell the other half of the story. After Wynonna revealed that she had hired a trainer and was working on her physical well-being, her public appearances began providing a noticeably different point of comparison with the earlier images.

The contrast becomes even more apparent in Wynonna’s most recent appearances.

2026

The latest look quickly became a talking point among her followers. On Facebook, one netizen responded, “You look AMAZING! How’d you get so thin?” Whatever you did, it looks beautiful.”

Another user offered a theory about what might have caused the change. “GLP-1 really getting her physically healthy. Congratulations,” the commenter wrote.

In another discussion, followers continued reacting to her appearance. “You look great with your weight loss always a very Beautiful lady,” one commenter wrote.

Another person framed the change as part of a broader personal transformation. “Nahhhh… it’s YOU!!!! You are definitely in your glowing up queen era and you are slaying it!!!” the user wrote. “Goddess!” someone else remarked.

Another person framed the change as part of a broader personal transformation.

“Nahhhh… it’s YOU!!!! You are definitely in your glowing up queen era and you are slaying it!!!” the user wrote. “Goddess!” someone else remarked.

The reactions mark the latest chapter in a transformation Wynonna has discussed publicly for more than two decades. While the photos show a visible change, her own comments have consistently placed health, mental well-being, and self-acceptance at the center of that journey.

The former child star who appeared on Disney Channel’s Jessie has grown from a familiar young face into a successful actress, writer, and producer with an expanding Hollywood career. From her early days in California to her personal journey and latest roles, recent photos reveal just how much she has changed over the years, leaving fans eager to see her transformation.

Long before she became a familiar face on television, the actress was already finding her feet onstage in Davis, California. Her journey began so early that she was performing with the Davis Musical Theatre Company before she had even started kindergarten.

From a California Stage to Hollywood at Just 10

Her first experiences included ensemble roles in stage productions such as Aladdin, Mulan, and The Jungle Book. Her interest in performing began after watching her older sister, Camille, onstage at the Davis Musical Theatre Company, where she started acting before kindergarten.

An early Davis Enterprise profile documented how her ambitions quickly expanded beyond theater. Her parents took turns driving her from Davis to Southern California for auditions, helping her pursue opportunities in television and film while balancing family life back home.

2012

2013

By the time she was 10, she had already landed a leading role in a television pilot called Sunny Time, appeared in a Nintendo commercial and a music video, and performed stand-up comedy at the Hollywood Improv. She was also gaining attention for her role in The Lil’ Dictator, a comedy produced by AwesomenessTV that spoofed Sacha Baron Cohen’s film The Dictator.

The web series made an early impression, with its first episode reportedly drawing 35,000 views on YouTube. Even Boston Celtics star Paul Pierce took notice, tweeting that the episode was “hilarious.”

However, the comedy also attracted criticism from viewers who objected to its stereotypical portrayals. The young performer and her family defended the production as satire, pointing out that they were Arab-American themselves.

Despite the occasional backlash, she remained enthusiastic about acting and understood that rejection was part of the business. As she explained in the Davis Enterprise profile, “You have to accept when you don’t get it, that something else will come up.” She added, “And the process is so fun. I love auditioning.”

Her parents made considerable sacrifices to help her pursue her ambitions, including arranging for her and her mother to stay in an apartment near Hollywood to reduce the frequent trips from Davis. Her father described their long drives to Los Angeles as valuable father-daughter time, comparing their experience to families traveling for their children’s sporting activities.

Her mother also emphasized the family’s commitment to supporting her dreams. “We are doing what any parents would do to support their children and help them reach their dreams,” Christine said.

The separation was challenging for the family, particularly because the young performer missed her father and older brother, Alex, who remained in Davis. Still, she found a sense of belonging among other young actors in Hollywood, especially after struggling to fit in at schools in Davis and Sacramento.

By then, she had already developed a determined approach to auditions and the uncertainties of the entertainment industry. Even as a fifth-grader, she was convinced she had found the place where she belonged. And Hollywood was only getting started with her.

2014

The Disney Years That Made Her Familiar to Viewers

Television soon gave her a much bigger platform. She landed a role on Disney Channel’s Jessie, the sitcom starring Debby Ryan as a young woman who becomes a nanny to four children in New York City.

At the time, audiences knew the performer professionally as J.J. Totah. Her work on the Disney series helped introduce her to younger viewers, while additional roles steadily expanded her résumé.

She went on to appear in productions including Back in the Game, 2 Broke Girls, and New Girl. In 2015, she also joined the sixth and final season of Glee, playing Myron Muskovitz, a character who brought her into the world of Ryan Murphy’s musical comedy-drama.

2015

2016

Another important step came with NBC’s Champions, created by Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy. Totah played Michael, a teenager sent to live with his estranged father, and the performance drew attention from critics and viewers alike. Her film work also included Other People, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Disney’s Magic Camp.

What began as a childhood passion was turning into a substantial career, with the young performer taking on increasingly varied parts. But while the public was getting to know the person appearing on screen, Totah was working through a deeply personal journey that would eventually change how she introduced herself to the world.

2017

2018

The Personal Truth She Was Ready to Share

In August 2018, Totah published a deeply personal essay in TIME titled “My Name Is Josie Totah — and I’m Coming Out.” In it, she explained that she had long understood herself to be female and was ready to live openly as the person she knew herself to be.

“My pronouns are she, her, and hers. I identify as female, specifically as a transgender female,” she wrote. “And my name is Josie Totah.”

She explained that her feelings had begun in early childhood, long before she had the language to understand gender identity. “When I was five, long before I understood what the word gender meant, I would always tell my mother that I wished I were a girl,” she wrote.

After Becoming Josie — 2018

“Since I could speak in full sentences, I was like, ‘Give me a dress!’ I always knew on some level that I was female.” For years, however, she felt boxed in by the way others perceived her. Although she had been celebrated for her performances, she explained that people frequently described her as a gay boy, an identity that did not reflect how she understood herself.

“Acting has always been my passion. I’m grateful for roles I’ve gotten to play on shows like Champions, and I know I’m lucky to be able to do what I love,” she wrote. “But I also feel like I let myself be shoved into a box: J.J. Totah, gay boy.”

She described the pressure of being repeatedly labeled by interviewers and others in the entertainment industry, even as she struggled to express her identity publicly. She also admitted that she worried about how fans who had known her from Jessie would react.

Ultimately, she decided that continuing to hide herself was not healthy. “I know now, more than ever, that I’m finally ready to take this step toward becoming myself. I’m ready to be free,” she wrote. Her announcement was not presented as a sudden change of heart, but as the public expression of something she had understood about herself for years.

She also described the importance of having supportive parents, who helped her seek medical guidance after she told her mother she was transgender. In the essay, Totah recalled watching the docuseries I Am Jazz with her mother and recognizing aspects of her own experience in transgender television personality Jazz Jennings.

Learning more about transition helped her explain what she had been feeling, and her mother’s response was immediate and supportive. “My mother, who is immensely supportive and gracious, said, ‘Okay, let’s do it,'” Totah wrote.

2019

Three days later, she was meeting with her pediatrician, who referred her to a specialist. She subsequently began taking a hormone blocker, which she said eased the anxiety she had experienced about the physical changes associated with male puberty.

Totah also described the emotional toll of concealing her identity, including hiding clothes she wanted to wear and worrying about whether others would accept her. Being able to live openly, she explained, meant more than changing how the public addressed her. “When my friends and family call me Josie, it feels like I’m being seen,” she wrote.

Why Her Transformation Means More Than a New Look

For Totah, the transition to living openly as herself also meant reconsidering the roles she wanted to play. In her TIME essay, she described watching Lea Michele and other female performers on Glee wearing dresses and taking part in elaborate musical numbers while privately wishing she could experience that freedom herself.

She was excited about continuing her education and acting career without feeling compelled to present herself as someone she was not. She also hoped to pursue roles that reflected her identity, including both transgender and cisgender women.

That desire to tell more authentic stories would eventually become part of her work behind the camera, too. Her career was no longer just about getting cast in a role; she wanted to have a voice in how characters like her were written and portrayed.

In an interview with Refinery29, Totah explained that her family had known she was transgender since she was very young. However, growing up in the entertainment industry made expressing her identity outside her home difficult.

2021

She recalled keeping a separate closet filled with dresses, skirts, and kitten heels, which she had collected since childhood. “It was a walk-in, let me tell you, and I kept all my favorite looks in there. I had it since I was, like, five-years old. I’ve always had stuff,” she said.

Fashion became a way to explore her identity, although she often had to change clothes when visitors arrived. She also struggled with auditions that required her to dress and portray boys, despite wanting people to recognize her as a girl. “Fashion has always been a huge part of my life,” she said, “But, I couldn’t see myself outside of my closet.”

College, Sisterhood, and Finding Her Own Style

After graduating from high school, Totah enrolled at Chapman University in California, where she joined the Alpha Phi sorority. Although she initially felt apprehensive about Greek life, she later described joining the organization as one of the best decisions she had made as a young woman.

In her Refinery29 interview, she recalled worrying about whether she would find an accepting environment during the sorority recruitment process. She had heard rumors about one chapter being unwelcoming, but she decided to approach the experience with an open mind.

2022

“Ironically, I ended up falling in love with the sorority that everyone else thought was the worst option. They weren’t. They were the total opposite,” she said. Joining Alpha Phi gave her a community in which she felt supported and understood. She said that hearing from people who had found encouragement through her story had been particularly meaningful.

“Having people come to me and tell me that even though they can’t personally relate to my experience, how much I’ve helped them find light in their life, loving themselves, and accepting themselves — it’s just been such a wonderful experience. I’m so glad that I’ve found a home there,” she said.

The experience also gave her room to experiment with her personal style. She described fashion as an important part of her identity, with her tastes ranging from streetwear and platform sneakers to more polished outfits.

2023

She cited Givenchy and Gucci among her favorite designers, appreciating their gender-fluid designs and their work around diversity and inclusion. Her approach to fashion, she explained, depends on how she feels on a particular day.

“One week, I’m feeling streetwear — think: let’s go to a YG concert and have a good time. And then the next week, I’m a young, HR employee in her 30s who’s trying to make her way up, just got her first starter home; she’s wearing a blazer, she’s in a brown bootie — like, give her a break — ya know?”

Beyond college, Totah also received recognition for her advocacy, including the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award and Upstander Award. Her experiences helped shape her commitment to representation, both through her public platform and the stories she would later help bring to television.

Her experience was not without difficult moments, but she has also spoken about the support she received from her family and the community she found among other LGBTQ+ people. In a conversation with E! News, she reflected on how hard it had been to feel restricted as a child.

“It was really difficult because I was being told, ‘You shouldn’t go outside with nail polish or with makeup unless you are ready to be fully out, and I just wanted to be myself,'” Totah told the outlet.

She described the frustration of being unable to express herself in seemingly small ways and the feeling of being trapped by other people’s expectations. Looking back, she has also spoken about the value of sharing her story with people who may be facing similar struggles.

“I’m so grateful I’m able to be someone who people can look up to,” she said. “It’s worth that risk and it’s worth all the experiences and [expletive] that I went through. Because I’m able to make people feel less alone by being myself and I’m so incredibly proud of that.”

The experience of seeing someone with a similar story also mattered to Totah. She later explained to Variety that watching Jazz Jennings helped her make sense of feelings she had struggled to articulate. “Meeting Jazz was just reaffirming, and so loving. She just felt like family,” Totah said.

From ‘Saved by the Bell’ to a Bigger Role Behind the Scenes

As Totah continued building her career, she took on one of her most recognizable roles in the reboot of Saved by the Bell. She played Lexi, a popular cheerleader at Bayside High, and earned a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

But the role also gave her an opportunity to shape the story rather than simply perform it. Totah served as a producer on the series, with a particular interest in ensuring that her character’s gender identity was handled thoughtfully.

In an interview with Variety, she explained that she initially hesitated to accept the role unless she could have a meaningful say in how Lexi’s story was developed. She wanted representation behind the camera as well as on screen. “I didn’t feel comfortable doing a show that explored my character’s gender identity if representation didn’t exist,” she explained.

Her involvement extended beyond her own character. Totah described advocating for a more inclusive hair department and helping ensure that the show’s creative decisions reflected the experiences of its cast.

The work marked another step in her evolution from a child performer into a multifaceted creative professional. In addition to acting, she has pursued writing and producing, with a particular interest in complex queer women and stories that do not reduce characters to a single aspect of their identity.

2024

In an interview with V Magazine, she reflected on the lessons that come with spending so much of one’s life in front of a camera. She described acting as a skill that continues to develop with experience and encouraged young creatives to focus on their work rather than allow other people’s assumptions to define them.

“As far as identity goes, I would remember [that] this industry, or any industry that you’re in, it is [about] what you do, not who you are,” she said. She also described perseverance as essential to building a lasting career. For Totah, success has increasingly meant being able to pursue different interests while remaining true to herself.

The Actress Is Entering Another Busy Chapter

Totah’s recent projects show that she is continuing to move beyond the child-star label. She is set to lead the television adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, bringing a new interpretation to one of the author’s best-known stories.

She has also joined the cast of Faces of Death, a remake of the controversial horror film directed by Daniel Goldhaber. The project features Dacre Montgomery, Barbie Ferreira, and Charli XCX, placing Totah in another major production outside her earlier television work.

Meanwhile, she appeared in Apple TV+’s period drama The Buccaneers, based on Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel. She plays Mabel Elmsworth, a sharp-witted young woman navigating love, social expectations, and life in a reimagined 1870s England.

In her V Magazine interview, Totah teased an emotionally rewarding development for Mabel in the second season. “You can expect a fulfilling love story for Mabel that feels both full circle and open-ended,” she said.

The actress has also described her life in New York City, where she draws inspiration from her roommates, childhood friends, and the unpredictable energy of the city. Her interests now extend across performance, writing, producing, and shaping stories that give complicated women room to be themselves.

It is a considerable range for someone whose professional life began before kindergarten. Yet the career she has built suggests that her childhood fame was only the beginning.

2025

2026

Josie Totah’s Latest Photos Have Fans Talking

As her career continues to grow, Totah’s appearance has also become a subject of enthusiastic conversation among fans who have followed her journey. Her recent social media posts offer a glimpse of the confident woman she has become, far removed from the young performer many viewers remember from Disney Channel.

The reactions have been affectionate, with fans praising both her appearance and her talent. Under one of her TikTok videos, commenters shared their admiration in simple but enthusiastic terms.

One fan wrote, “She’s literally so pretty 😭.” Another commented, “Josie, you’re so incredibly beautiful and talented <33.” A third admirer added, “Josie gets cuter every year.”

The response continued around her Carrie premiere photos, where followers again focused on her striking appearance. One commenter wrote, “OMG so pretty.” Another said, “Looking unreal.” A third fan summed up the reaction with, “Stunning baby angel.”

The compliments reflect the enthusiasm surrounding Totah’s public appearances, but her story is about more than a visual transformation.

She has spent years developing a career that now includes leading roles, producing credits, and opportunities to help shape the stories Hollywood tells.

For viewers who remember her from Jessie, the photos offer a chance to see how much has changed since those early television days. And for Totah, the most significant transformation may be the freedom to be recognized on her own terms.