Neutrogena faces backlash over Hayden Panettiere contract cancellation after depression disclosure

Neutrogena is facing renewed criticism following the death of Hayden Panettiere, after comments from the actress about her former relationship with the skincare brand resurfaced online.

Panettiere, who was a Neutrogena ambassador for around 10 years, claimed in her 2026 memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning that the company cancelled her contract after she publicly discussed receiving treatment for postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in 2014.

The actress said she disclosed her postpartum depression diagnosis during an appearance on Live! with Kelly and Michael in 2015. In her memoir, she wrote, "Neutrogena canceled my long-standing contract, and it was yet another blow in a year that had given almost nothing else."

Panettiere later discussed the matter during a May appearance on Jay Shetty's podcast. She said she was surprised to learn from her representative that her comments about postpartum depression had allegedly breached the contract's morality clause.

"Neutrogena was a huge part of my life," Panettiere recalled. "I had the morals clauses, they caught absolutely everything. And of all the things that they would fire me over, this is the last thing that I thought they would ever fire me for."

She said she had spoken about mental health publicly because she was "just being honest. Never for a second did I think or care that anyone would have a bad reaction to it. It was my truth."

Panettiere added, "So when I got that call that Neutrogena wanted to fire me over that, my representative at the time said, 'That's illegal. You can't do that.'"

Following Panettiere's death at 36 on August 16, social media users renewed calls to boycott Neutrogena.

One Reddit post supporting a boycott received more than 5,000 upvotes, while an X post about the claims gained more than 34,000 likes.

Neutrogena has not responded to requests for comment regarding Panettiere's claims or her death.