Hayden Panettiere Was Warned by a Doctor She'd Be 'Dead Within Five Years' If She Continued Drinking — Years Before Tragic Passing

Hayden Panettiere's death came after a chilling warning from her doctor, RadarOnline.com has learned.

On Sunday, August 16, the 36-year-old actress was pronounced dead by first responders. While the cause of her death was not immediately released, paramedics treated her for a "cardiac arrest" associated with an "overdose." Panettiere was open about her drug and alcohol dependency. She explained in her memoir, released just five months before her death, that doctors were worried about her health while she was at the worst of her addiction.

According to her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere turned to alcohol as an escape from her ex's abuse, her career, and the woes of a fractured motherhood. She turned to treatment in 2020, entering an eight-month stay and pushing through withdrawal symptoms.

"A doctor told me that if I didn't stop drinking, I'd be dead within five years," she recalled after confessing she once developed jaundice and yellow eyes.

In an effort to dodge death, Panettiere went through withdrawal symptoms, including mental health episodes. She recalled hearing "voices that were so terrifying I got on all fours and crawled to my bathroom." She waited for the "panic to pass" by lying on the cool tiles.

The symptoms were physical, too. The actress wrote, "As my nervous system tried to regulate itself without the depressant effects of alcohol, it went into overdrive, and my whole body shook. I couldn't sleep, and my head pounded like it was pressing against my skull."

Two weeks into ditching the alcohol and anti-depressants, Panettiere began to "feel calm." She experienced a blip of happiness.

She wrote, “Two weeks later, I laughed. Not because of (boyfriend) Brian (Hickerson) or Wlad ([ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko) or Mom or someone else whose approval I craved, but because of something I thought was funny. That laugh was all mine, and no one could take it from me.”

Three months into recovery, Panettiere admitted she began to feel joy, which she described as "a million times better than any drug."

She shifted in 2021 to reconnecting with her daughter, Kaya. She found herself "more clear-headed than I'd ever been."

"The sun seemed brighter, the sky looked bluer, and all around me, I could hear the hum of creatures doing the hard work of being alive," she noted.

Before entering treatment, Panettiere signed away her custody rights to Kaya at the request of her ex, Klitschko. The feeling of that separation stunned Panettiere.

"I remember every second of that day. Every f------ second,” she wrote. "No mother could forget a single thing about the day she signed her child away."

Upon leaving treatment, Panettiere began to speak on FaceTime with Kaya, who was 6 years old at the time.

"Kindergarteners aren't known for their excellent phone communication skills, but even five minutes of that laugh and those blue eyes was enough for me,” she penned. “It wasn't the motherhood I wanted, but I would take what I could get."

Years after treatment, Panettiere died in her apartment complex from what first responders described as a "cardiac arrest." Her cause of death was not immediately determined, but 911 records revealed she was likely suffering from an "overdose."

In a statement to ABC News, her father confirmed, "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."