Hayden Panettiere had been one of the faces of Neutrogena for 10 years, signing on with the global skincare brand as a teenager in 2005. She appeared in countless television and print ads, holding up their cleansers and nifty facial brushes with that
mega-watt smile.
The decade-long partnership came to an abrupt end after Panettiere appeared on a 2015 episode of Live with Kelly and Michael, and opened up about battling postpartum depression. In her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, and interviews promoting the book, Panettiere alleged that while her Neutrogena contract wasn’t immediately terminated, it wasn’t renewed the following year due to violating their their “morals clause.”
“Of all the things, too, that they would fire me over, this was the last thing I thought they would fire me over,” Panettiere said on the On Purpose podcast. “I had worked with these people for 10 years and I remember not hearing a word from anybody. I remember that really breaking my heart.”
Panettiere’s death at 36 triggered widespread public backlash and calls to boycott Neutrogena after interviews of the actress discussing the severed partnership resurfaced.
On Thursday, four days after her death, Neutrogena released a statement addressing its treatment of Panettiere, but falling short of actually apologizing. “We are deeply saddened by Hayden Panettiere’s passing,” Neutrogena stated in a social media post. “For more than a decade, Hayden was a valued member of our Neutrogena community. We are proud to have partnered with her and understand that we made her feel unsupported during a very difficult time. This is not what Neutrogena stands for or who we want to be.”
Neutrogena said it was making a “significant investment to a long-standing community health partner to help give more women access to the support they need, including care for postpartum depression.” The health partner wasn’t named, and the brand said they would “share more details with this community when plans are in place.”
The skincare company said that it had delayed releasing a statement after the actress’ death “out of respect for Hayden’s family and loved ones” and extended its condolences to Panettiere’s family and “all who loved her.”
When asked by On Purpose host Jay Shetty, what she wants people to know about postpartum depression, Panettiere replied, “That it’s real.” She continued, “That it’s not something we make up. It’s not something we want. It’s not that we’ve lost our marbles. It’s not something we want to go through and we’re not lying when we tell you something’s wrong.”
“We want to be with our brand new child and be filled with joy and feel like the luckiest person in the world and capture every moment,” said Panettiere. “For anyone to think otherwise is just misinformed.”
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