After Hayden Panettiere died Aug. 16, director Griff Furst—who worked with her on A Breed Apart—recalled that the energy in her room on set was “pretty dark.” In an Aug. 17 Instagram video, Furst reflected on working with Panettiere on the 2025 film, saying the movie’s security team told him “something was off” after picking the actress up from the airport. When he went to greet her, Furst recalled that her boyfriend Brian—seemingly referring to her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson—opened the door. Furst described Panettiere as “incredibly sweet and gracious and excited to work,” but said she was “not OK.” While the director said he would not get into the details of why she seemed off, he added that it was “pretty clear” to him that something was wrong. Still, Furst said Panettiere’s light continued to shine through, remembering the Nashville star as “a force to be reckoned with.” He added, “That was definitely still in there. But there was something else in there, too, that made it a lot harder to reach.” Prior to her death at age 36, Panettiere had spoken candidly about her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression and reflected on her life, career and family in her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. Full Story: https://www.eonline.com/news/1435172/hayden-panettieres-breed-apart-director-griff-hurst-says-she-was-not-ok
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