Neutrogena has issued a statement after the death of actress Hayden Panettiere, who was a former ambassador for the skin care brand.
The Heroes and Nashville star passed away on August 16, her family said in a statement.
In the months before her death, during the promotion for her memoir This is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere had claimed her decade-long contract with Neutrogena was cancelled after she discussed her postpartum depression publicly.
Appearing on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast in May, Panettiere discussed her appearance on US TV show Live! with Kelly and Michael in 2015, where she talked about her struggles with the mental health condition following the birth of her daughter in 2014.
Clips of Panettiere’s podcast appearance and the 2015 TV interview started recirculating online following her death, prompting a backlash on social media against the Kenvue-owned brand.
Neutrogena, which was owned by Johnson & Johnson from 1994 to 2023, has now issued a statement on its official Instagram and TikTok pages, both of which have comments disabled.
In the post, Neutrogena said it was deeply saddened by Panettiere’s passing.
“For more than a decade, Hayden was a valued member of our Neutrogena community,” the company’s post read.
“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.”
The post continued: “Hayden’s courage sharing her challenges helped inspire important conversations and awareness.
“We are 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.
“We will share more details with this community when plans are in place.”
In the final slide of the post, Neutrogena said: “Out of respect for Hayden’s family and loved ones, we did not want to speak out too soon following her passing.
“Everyone at Neutrogena extends their deepest condolences to Hayden’s family and all who loved her.”
Panettiere became a Neutrogena Brand Ambassador in 2005 and went on to front global campaigns for the skin care brand.
In her On Purpose appearance, Panettiere said: “Neutrogena was a huge part of my life.
“I had the morals clause. They caught absolutely everything.
“And of all the things that they would fire me over, this was the last thing I ever thought they would fire me over.
“When I went out on stage, it was Live! With Kelly and Michael, I had no intention or plan to talk about postpartum depression.
“It just came up and I was just being honest.
“Never for a second did I think that anyone, or care that anyone, would have a bad reaction to it. It was my truth.
“When I got the call that Neutrogena wanted to fire me over that, and my representative at the time said that was illegal, you can not do that.
“Even though she saved the day that year, I knew that was going to be it. That I was not going to be invited back the next year.”
Image credit: Wikicommons, DaveyCasey
Related content:
