Melissa Gilbert admits 'something is very wrong' about Hayden Panettiere's death

Angelica CheyenneSun, August 23, 2026 at 5:24 AM UTC

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Hayden Panettiere died at the age of 36 this month -Credit:Getty Images

Actress Melissa Gilbert has recently spoken on the deaths of ex-child actresses Hayden Panettiere, Daveigh Chase, and Michelle Trachtenberg.

Almost a week after Hayden's death at age 36, the 62-year-old Little House on the Prairie star has insisted that better support be offered to young Hollywood actors as they transition into young adulthood. Melissa urged these changes in a new essay publishedon her Substack on Saturday, August 22.

“I did not know Hayden personally and only worked briefly with Mishy and Daveigh. It feels personal because I was them,” Melissa wrote. Listed in her work for reference were Tatum O’Neal, Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning, Jodie Foster, Drew Barrymore, and Melissa's sister, Sara Gilbert. Hayden died from an apparent overdose.

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“We are all members of the same tribe; Female Former Child Performers, and when one of us dies, it runs through all of us like an electrical current,” she further wrote, adding, “When three of us die so close together, something is very, very wrong.”

The Emmy-nominated actress also explained that she believed the entertainment industry's exploitation of child actors before discarding them was “getting worse.”

Melissa claimed that it stemmed from what she branded "Doctor Show Syndrome,” which enables kids to perform when “we are sick both physically and emotionally” — something that she had to endure.

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Melissa Gilbert recently penned a new essay dedicated to advocating for child stars -Credit:Getty Images

"I can’t tell you how many times I worked while horribly sick, injured, or worse. My father died when I was just eleven years old, and I was back working on Little House within months. And not one single adult on that set discussed it with me or offered condolences,” she remembered. “I later found out that the fear was I would become too upset to work.”

Melissa further penned that the dynamic "set her up for a pattern of working no matter what," which “nearly worked her to death a few times.”

She then recalled a time when she had an emergency appendectomy procedure right while filming a movie in Oregon and went back to work three days later because she “felt so bad that I was affecting the schedule.”

Melissa is famous for her role on Little House on the Prairie -Credit:Good Morning America/Youtube

Melissa went on to share, “A few days after that, I got sick with a horrible fever. I continued to film for a few more days until I finished my work, flew home, and was immediately hospitalized, hallucinating from the fever. I was on the verge of sepsis."

Melissa made it clear that regardless of the worth ethic, child actors were still "children" and deserved to be treated as such.

“These young professionals are children, and we should make sure they are allowed to be children,” she expressed. “They should be allowed to say ‘no.’ Do not push through physical or emotional pain. Not be made to support their entire families. And most certainly not to be followed everywhere they go by cameras, phones, and prying, exploitive eyes.”

Melissa's essay comes seven months after her husband, Timothy Busfield, was indicted by a jury in New Mexico on four counts of sexual conduct with a minor (child under 13).

The actor has pleaded not guilty to all charges, with his trial set for May 2027.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”