Wladimir Klitschko, the man once set to marry Hayden Panettiere and the father of her only child, broke his silence after her passing.
Sharing an emotional message online, the Ukrainian boxer shared a tribute to his former fiancée and spoke about how she was an important part of his life for many years.
He also addressed how he plans to keep her memory alive for their daughter as she grows up without her mom.
Highlights
- Wladimir Klitschko released a statement following Hayden Panettiere’s passing.
- The Ukrainian boxer remembered his former fiancée as an “important part” of his life.
- He also revealed his plans to keep her memory alive for their daughter Kaya, aged 11.
- The late actress recalled their first encounter years back before their years-long relationship.
Ex-fiancée Wladimir Klitschko broke his silence following Hayden Panettiere’s passing
The romance between Wladimir Klitschko and Hayden Panettiere ended years ago. But they remained bound together by their daughter Kaya, aged 11 when the actress was found unresponsive at an Airbnb in South Carolina.
Over the weekend, the Heroes star had flown from LA to South Carolina with her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson.
An acquaintance found her “unresponsive” on Sunday afternoon and called 911, saying the actress was in “cardiac arrest” after a suspected overdose.
Paramedics pronounced her lifeless at the Judson Mill Lofts apartment complex in Greenville.
Ex-fiancé Klitschko addressed the tragic loss with a statement on social media, saying, “Our family is going through a time of profound shock and grief.”
The boxing legend said the news of Panettiere’s passing “saddens [him] deeply.”
“She left this world far too soon. Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya,” he continued.
“She built an incredible career through immense talent, while also facing the darker sides of a very demanding industry,” she added. “Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives.”
The former heavyweight champion vowed to make sure their daughter Kaya remembers her mother “with respect”
The former heavyweight boxing champion, who had obtained full custody of Kaya when she was little, expressed his desire to keep her memory alive for their daughter.
He said, “To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was.”
“I extend my deepest condolences to Hayden’s parents, her friends, and her fans, who are also grieving today,” he continued. “Young and talented people like Hayden should not leave this world so soon.”
Klitschko went on to ask the public for privacy during this difficult time and thanked people for supporting their family and expressing condolences.
“Rest easy, Hayden. May you find eternal peace,” he concluded. “#WeLoveYouHayden.”
Klitschko was thrust into the spotlight when he participated in the 1996 Summer Olympics and won gold for Ukraine in the super-heavyweight division. He continued boxing professionally till 2017 and was the world heavyweight champion not once but twice.
Over the years, the champion boxer has been a vocal activist for Ukraine, while his brother Vitali Klitschko has been the mayor of Kyiv since 2014.
Panettiere and Klitschko first met in 2008 while attending a party hosted by a mutual friend.
The Ice Princess actress recalled their first encounter on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2013, saying she was the first to strike up a conversation with him.
“You’re huge,” she told the 6-foot-6 boxer, to which he replied, “You’re tiny.”
They began dating on and off for years, announcing their engagement in 2013.
“You’re huge” were Panettiere's first words to the 6-foot-6 Ukrainian boxer
When the former couple welcomed their baby girl in December 2014, they said they were “over the moon” and “madly in love.”
Panettiere spoke about Klitschko to People following the birth and said, “I’m lucky if I can get my hands on the kid. He’s like, ‘No, no, I got her.’ Which is exactly what I thought he would be like.”
However, the Nashville star wrote in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning about Kaya’s birth being a grueling experience. She said she “felt nothing” when she first laid eyes on her little one in the labor room.
“I wasn’t OK,” the actress wrote. “I had to figure out how to bond with her. It felt like an insurmountable task, and I was only on the first day.”
“It wasn’t panic that was sitting in my chest. It was nothing. A total blackout of emotion, like my soul was de*d,” she added.
Four months after the birth, Panettiere continued to struggle with postpartum depression and began turning to alcohol.
“The first thing I’d thought of when I woke up was alcohol. Not my child, not my job, and not the rest of my life. I needed a drink to function — at 6 a.m.,” she wrote in the memoir, released in May this year.
Panettiere eventually got help and gave up custody of her daughter to Klitschko.
“The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn’t be further from the truth,” she said on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast in May.
She and the boxer officially broke up in 2018, and the same year, she began dating on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson.
Despite losing custody, Panettiere said she built an “incredibly strong” bond with Kaya over the years
Around that time, she said she didn’t know her daughter would be moving to Ukraine and only found out after she had flown across the ocean.
“[Kaya] was almost 3 and it wasn’t fully my decision,” she said on a 2022 episode of Facebook Watch’s Red Table Talk. “In fact, I didn’t even know it was happening until she was already over there.”
While she worked on herself, she thought Kaya would go back and forth between Nashville and Ukraine “like she always did.”
But “once she was over there, it was immediately, ‘I want full custody of her,’ which was a shock to me,” the actress said.
“It was very upsetting signing those papers to give him full custody,” she continued. “It was like the most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever, ever had to do in my life.”
Despite the circumstances, Panettiere said she built an “incredibly strong” bond with Kaya over the years.
“She is amazing. I mean, she is so much like me. It’s crazy,” she told People in 2024.
During her appearance on Jay Shetty’s podcast this year, the actress said she traveled as much as she could to be with her daughter and spent a lot of time with her on FaceTime.
“I know that she knows that she has two parents that would do anything in the world to make sure that she is happy and healthy, mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually,” she told the podcast host.
“She in no way feels abandoned, and that’s something that I’ve made sure to stay on top of and be very aware of.”
“A very kind response to such a tragedy,” one commented on Klitschko's statement
