Hayden Panettiere’s death has resurfaced and fueled new public backlash towards Neutrogena.
The skincare model featured her in adverts that ran between 2005 and 2015. She later claimed in her 2026 memoir that the corporate canceled her long-standing contract after she went public along with her battle with post-partum melancholy in 2015 on the present “Live with Kelly and Michael.”
After releasing her memoir, “This is Me: A Reckoning,” Panettiere spoke in regards to the firing on the Jay Shetty Podcast in May.
“Of all the things to… that they would fire me over, this was the last thing that I thought they would ever fire me over,” she stated.
Some folks criticized Neutrogena on social media after listening to about Panettiere’s aspect earlier than her death. That criticism has now grown right into a flood of backlash within the wake of her death, with many individuals calling for a boycott of the model.
NBC News stated it reached out to the corporate in regards to the claims and criticism on Wednesday, however hadn’t obtained a response.
Molly McPherson, a PR and disaster administration skilled, spoke on NBC News Now in regards to the backlash and stated it can take greater than phrases for Neutrogena to reply to the backlash.
“Now what they need to see is action. This is not a time for a press release. Certainly, Neutrogena, this is one of these unknowns in crisis management. You could never plan for this. But you can always plan to be empathetic,” McPherson stated.
“This is the case of the story that they can no longer make good to the person who talked about this in May 2026,” she stated. “Now it is almost too late, and the silence is deafening here. The social media commentary is being written, this narrative is being written by the public, and the public is not giving them a break.”
McPherson stated she suspects the corporate might want to take earnest motion towards maternal well being to be able to ease some of the backlash it’s going through.
Panettiere died in her apartment over the weekend in Greenville, South Carolina. No trigger has been decided, and her death stays below investigation. An post-mortem discovered no indicators of trauma, and police stated officers noticed no indicators of foul play, in response to the Associated Press.
She would have turned 37 on Friday.