Hilary Duff pays tribute to Hayden Panetierre: ‘Really tough hearing this news’

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Hayden Panettiere and Hilary Duff attend Joanna Schlips’ launch of the J-Gurlz Fund and her book ‘Glamour Gurlz’ on Sept. 26, 2006, in Hollywood, California. (Mark Davis/Getty Images)

Hayden Panetierre’s death has prompted many tributes from those she worked with over the years. But although they never shared a screen together, Hilary Duff took to Instagram to remember the actress as someone who she was able to bond with over their shared experience as young Hollywood stars.

Hilary wrote on Instagram Tuesday, “Sweet Hayden. Really tough hearing this news. We lost touch through the years but I will always remember you as so hardworking and effervescent, with that big, gorgeous smile.”

“I remember staying up late, chatting and gossiping, and connecting because we were part of such a small sliver of people who actually understood the strange lot in life we were navigating,” she continued. “So young, with no real idea how to make sense of any of it.”

“I so deeply wish this wasn’t the end for you,” she concluded. “Sending a heart full of love to your family, the many people you impacted and everyone who loved you. rest easy.”

Panettiere was found in cardiac arrest prior to her death, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said Monday in a press release. The coroner’s office said an autopsy was completed on Monday and that “no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death.”

Panettiere’s official cause and manner of death “remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies,” the coroner’s office added.

Beginning her career as a child star, with a long list of credits in both TV and film, Panettiere is remembered for her roles as Claire Bennet on the hit series Heroes and as Juliette Barnes on the musical drama Nashville.

She was the mother of one child, daughter Kaya Klitschko, whom she had in 2014 with former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.