Hayden Panettiere’s 'Heroes' co-star Jack Coleman criticises how media treated her

Jack Coleman, who played Hayden Panettiere’s father throughout all four seasons of Heroes, has criticised the treatment the actress received from paparazzi and the media during her career.

Coleman shared a tribute to Panettiere on Instagram on Wednesday following her death at 36, recalling their relationship and her work on Heroes.

He described himself as “heartbroken” and remembered meeting the actress when she was 16.

“I've loved Hayden since day one of the pilot of 'Heroes,' 20 years ago, when she introduced herself by shouting 'daddy' and throwing her arms around me,” Coleman wrote. “From that day on, she called me, 'daddio.' She was Haydini, because she was a magician.”

Coleman also praised Panettiere’s abilities as an actor, recalling how she could cry on command for multiple takes. He said she corrected him when he described her performances as technique.

“I'm not a trained seal. I feel it and the tears just happen to come at that moment,” Panettiere told him, according to Coleman.

The actor said Panettiere had become No. 1 on IMDb Pro by the time she was 17, but argued that her growing fame also exposed her to intrusive media attention.

“She was routinely asked obnoxious questions, mostly some version of 'when are you going to go off the rails?' Today, we'd recognize those questions for the misogynistic provocations they were,” Coleman wrote.

He also recalled paparazzi following Panettiere and described photographers using long-range lenses to capture her in public.

“She was hunted. Everywhere she went, there were photographers with 300 millimeter lenses—the kind that can make even the most innocent activity look sinister,” he wrote. “They were predatory. No one, especially a teenager, should be targeted that way.”

Coleman remembered Panettiere as “an extraordinary young woman who was blessed and cursed” and expressed regret over her suffering.

Panettiere was found unresponsive after a 911 call in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday. Authorities said there were “no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances”. She is survived by her daughter, Kaya.