Skincare brand Neutrogena acknowledged making former ambassador Hayden Panettiere feel unsupported after she spoke publicly about postpartum depression in 2015. The statement followed intense online backlash and calls for a boycott following the actress’s death at age 36 in Greenville, South Carolina.
The beauty brand Neutrogena issued a formal statement addressing its history with the late actress, four days after she was found dead at an apartment complex on August 16. The company’s response came in the wake of renewed public scrutiny over how its decade-long endorsement deal with the Heroes and Nashville star came to an end in 2015.
Fans and social media users had spent days circulating a podcast interview recorded in May, in which Panettiere detailed how the skincare manufacturer attempted to drop her after she disclosed her postpartum depression diagnosis on live television.
Contract Termination Following 2015 Morning Show Appearance
Panettiere served as an ambassador for Neutrogena from 2005 to 2015, maintaining what she described in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, as the brand’s squeaky-clean product identity through years of intense media scrutiny during her youth.
Photo: Tribune
The professional relationship shifted dramatically following a 2015 appearance on Live with Kelly and Michael, less than a year after Panettiere gave birth to her daughter, Kaya, with then-lineal heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.
During her conversation with hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan, Panettiere spoke candidly about her personal struggles, stating that she can very much relate to her fictional Nashville character Juliette Barnes’s experience with postpartum depression.
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding, and I feel like there’s a lot of people out there who think that it’s not real.”
Shortly after the broadcast, Panettiere received a telephone call informing her that corporate leadership wanted to terminate her contract over an alleged violation of the agreement’s morality clauses.
“When I got that call that Neutrogena wanted to fire me over that, and my representative at the time said, ‘That’s illegal. You can’t do that.’ And even though she saved the day, that year, I knew that that was going to be it. I was not going to be invited back the next year.”
Hayden Panettiere, via TheWrap
While her representative’s legal pushback temporarily kept the contract intact for the remainder of its term, Panettiere was not invited back the following year. She noted in interviews promoting her memoir that receiving no personal goodbye or acknowledgment after a decade of representing the company really broke her heart.
Social Media Backlash and Neutrogena’s Formal Response
Following Panettiere’s death at age 36, social media platforms experienced an immediate wave of anger directed at the skincare brand. Users flooded Neutrogena’s Instagram accounts, while a Reddit post proposing a formal boycott earned more than 2,500 upvotes. Commenters on multiple platforms encouraged alternative skincare routines, pointing to the actress’s treatment as an example of an industry failing its younger stars.
Financial pressures also touched the broader corporate structure during the week. Shares of Kenvue Inc., Neutrogena’s parent company—which also manufactures household brands including Tylenol, Band-Aid, and Aveeno—fell more than 2% on Monday amid wider sales figure concerns before recovering some of those losses by Tuesday morning.
Facing mounting public criticism, Neutrogena released a formal statement on Thursday, August 20, via Instagram to address the controversy and offer condolences.
“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.”
Neutrogena, via The Guardian
Community Investments and Postpartum Health Support
In its statement, the skincare brand explained that it delayed commenting out of respect for Hayden’s family and loved ones during the immediate aftermath of her passing. The company also credited the actress for inspiring vital public conversations about maternal mental health.
Why Neutrogena Ended Brand Partnership With Hayden Panettiere | WION
Neutrogena announced plans to direct financial resources toward maternal health organizations in response to the controversy.
“Hayden’s courage in 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.”
Neutrogena, via USA Today
Meanwhile, local authorities in South Carolina continue investigating the actress’s cause of death, with the Greenville County Coroner’s Office noting that an autopsy was completed while final investigative findings remain pending.
Neutrogena Apologizes to Late Hayden Panettiere After Fan Outrage Over 2015 Alleged Firing
