Fans are remembering late actress-singer Brittany Murphy amid Heroes star Hayden Panettiere’s passing on August 16 at the age of 36. The cause of death was not immediately available. Her representative confirmed the news to ABC News while her father, Skip Panettiere, issued a statement:“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. 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. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”Murphy died from cardiac arrest at her home in Los Angeles, California, on December 20, 2009. She was 32.Now, amid Hayden Panettiere’s demise, X user @brushedbyfae reshared a RIP post for the Nashville actress and wrote:“She’s our generation’s Brittany Murphy, a sweet, talented soul unexpectedly gone… this is heartbreaking.”Many joined the tribute and shared similar comments.“This one breaks my heart as much as when I found out about Brittany Murphy. Just so unfair,” a fan wrote.“How sad about Hayden Panettiere. I hope her early departure has no connection to what she shared in her recent book. Another child actress who decided to speak out. I think of Amanda Bynes, Brittany Murphy, Britney Spears… too many similar stories,” another fan added.“Two of the saddest gone-too-soon Hollywood deaths. Reminds me of how sad I felt when Brittany Murphy died,” one person shared.Others continued to weigh in.“I can’t explain it, but the way that this just seemed to come out of left field really took me back to when Brittany Murphy died,” another person opined.“Hayden’s situation is giving people Brittany Murphy flashbacks for a reason,” one individual commented.“This feels like Brittany Murphy all over again. I don’t even know what to say,” a user wrote.Both Hayden Panettiere and Murphy were open about their struggles within the entertainment industry. In fact, the former wrote in her May 2026 tell-all memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning that she was “groomed” like a “little soldier.” An excerpt from the book reads, according to spokesman.com:“Grown-ups gave me positive attention when – as an actor – I failed, got sick, screamed and cried, killed, grieved, and suffered. Reality merged with my imagination and burrowed into my core memories, where all my shame and trauma live. I’ve often wondered whether – unintentionally – I’ve brought on my traumas because I’m wired to think they’re good for me.”Exploring the circumstances surrounding Brittany Murphy’s deathOn the morning of December 20, 2009, the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to an “emergency call” at the home of Murphy and her husband and English screenwriter Simon Monjack, after she apparently collapsed in the bathroom.First responders tried to resuscitate her at the scene before transporting her to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She was pronounced dead on arrival, having suffered a cardiac arrest, according to a LA County coroner’s office spokesperson’s statement to KABC-TV.Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter told AP that the cause of death “appears to be natural.” Brittany’s publicist Nicole Perna told ABC News at the time:“In this time of sadness, the family thanks everyone for their love and support. It is their wish that you respect their privacy.”The autopsy report published in February 2010 said that Murphy was suffering from a respiratory infection and had a wide range of over-the-counter and prescription medications in her system, seemingly to treat her cold. Additionally, she had anaemia.Meanwhile, a month before that, Simon Monjack and Murphy’s mother Sharon claimed the actress didn’t abuse drugs or alcohol and her death was caused by a heart condition. They also established the nonprofit Brittany Murphy Foundation to help with cancer research, children’s arts education, and supporting the USO.Brittany’s father, Angelo Bertolotti, believed the toxic mould at her daughter and son-in-law’s home was a factor behind their deaths and even filed a lawsuit, which was later dismissed.The 2020 documentary Brittany Murphy: An ID Mystery explored the circumstances surrounding the death of the Clueless actress and indirectly held her husband and mother responsible for her death. Monjack himself died in May 2010 from the same causes as his wife.Likewise, the HBO Max two-part miniseries, What Happened, Brittany Murphy?, which was released in October 2021, further saw her celebrity friends such as Amy Heckerling speculate that her husband controlled her life, neglected her well-being, and seemingly prevented her from meeting her close friends and family, which contributed to her addiction and struggles with addiction and mental health, and in turn her untimely passing.A 2023 Tubi docuseries, Gone Before Her Time: Brittany Murphy, further explored her tumultuous personal life and mysterious death.As for Hayden Panettiere, she spoke about her alcoholism, substance abuse, postpartum depression, anxiety, domestic abuse, grief, and giving away the custody of her 11-year-old daughter Kaya Klitschko to her ex-fiancé and former Ukrainian heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in her recent memoir.Hayden was preceded in death by her younger brother and fellow actor Jansen Panettiere, who died from “cardiomegaly (enlarged heart), coupled with aortic valve complications” in New York in February 2023. He was 28.