Neutrogena Apologizes for Axing Hayden Panettiere’s Contract amid Her Struggles with Postpartum Depression

The beauty brand's statement arrived over a decade after it quietly cut ties with its longtime spokesperson. Neutrogena now says it wants to make amends, even as it mourns her loss alongside her family and fans.

Neutrogena is apologizing for axing Hayden Panettiere in 2015, ten years after the actress had worked as the brand's spokesperson and face. The company took to social media to deliver the message, just days after news of her death broke.

"We are deeply saddened by Hayden Panettiere's passing," the statement began. "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. Hayden's courage in sharing her challenges helped inspire important conversations and awareness," the message continued, with Neutrogena expressing a commitment to making amends in light of Panettiere's death.

"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," the company said. "We will share more details with this community when plans are in place."

"Out of respect for Hayden's family and loved ones, we did not want to speak out so soon following her passing," it concluded. "Everyone at Neutrogena extends their deepest condolences to Hayden's family and all who loved her."

Panettiere's dismissal followed the actress opening up about a deeply personal health struggle. In her memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning," the "Nashville" star revealed that Neutrogena "canceled [her] long-standing contract" over her allegedly breaking a morality clause.

She explained that the fallout began after she admitted to suffering from postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya, in 2014.

"I labored with Kaya for 14 hours and was in surgery for three hours after she was born," she wrote in the book, released May 19, detailing the grueling ordeal of welcoming her only child with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.

"When I woke up in the recovery room, I was exhausted, disoriented, and racked with pain," Panettiere wrote, explaining that she "needed a drink to function."

Panettiere became the face of Neutrogena back in 2005, signing on as spokesperson at around age 16 and going on to appear in the brand's major ad campaigns worldwide.

Her contract ended in the months following her discussion of her battle with postpartum depression on "Live! with Kelly and Michael" in September 2015.

During that appearance, she shared that PPD was "something that's completely uncontrollable" and both "really painful" and "really scary," emphasizing that "women need a lot of support."

"Women are amazing," she added at the time. "We do something that no man can do on this planet. I mean, we grow a human being in our body!"

In her appearance on Jay Shetty's "On Purpose" podcast in May, Panettiere said Neutrogena firing her over her postpartum depression remarks was "the last thing" she imagined the company "would ever fire [her] over."

"When I got that call that Neutrogena wanted to fire me over that, my representative at the time said, 'That's illegal. You can't do that,'" she recalled, noting that the company simply didn't renew its contract with her when the time came.

Panettiere passed away on Sunday, August 16, 2026, from an apparent overdose. She was 36.