Actress Hayden Panettiere’s past comments about Neutrogena dropping her after she disclosed postpartum depression have resurfaced following her death Sunday at age 36, news outlets report.
Ms. Panettiere appeared in commercials and ad campaigns as a spokesperson for the skincare company beginning in 2006.
In her 2026 memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” she wrote that Neutrogena ended her roughly decade-long contract after she publicly discussed receiving treatment for postpartum depression following the 2014 birth of her daughter, Kaya.
Ms. Panettiere spoke about her diagnosis in a 2015 appearance on “Live! with Kelly and Michael” when her representative told her the comments violated the Neutrogena contract’s morality clause.
In May, Ms. Panettiere spoke with Jay Shetty on his “On Purpose” podcast about the experience, saying that although her representatives defended her and told Neutrogena that firing her for that reason was “illegal,” she knew she wouldn’t be asked back the following year.
Despite saying Neutrogena monitored her every move from what she wore to how she acted, she was deeply affected when they decided to terminate her contract.
“I had worked with these people for 10 years and I remember not hearing a word from anybody,” Ms. Panettiere said on Mr. Shetty’s podcast. “I remember that really breaking my heart.”
The remarks have drawn renewed social media backlash and calls for a boycott of Neutrogena since Ms. Panettiere’s death.
Ms. Panettiere was found in cardiac arrest at a home in Greenville, South Carolina, and her cause of death remains under investigation.
Neutrogena did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Times.
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