Hayden Panettiere was remembered at a memorial service in Malibu on Saturday, attended by around 150 people including Paris Hilton, Evan Ross, Connie Britton and Charles Esten.
The celebration of life for the actress was described by people with direct knowledge as “emotional and beautiful”. Lennon Stella and Jonathan Jackson were also among those present at the church ceremony.
Britton and Esten delivered speeches during the service, while Esten sang one of Panettiere’s songs from the television series Nashville with a band assembled at the church.
Guests watched doves being released outside before going inside for the memorial.
Panettiere died on 16 August after being found unresponsive at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina. Law enforcement sources believe she died after taking a black-market oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl, according to the account provided.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, attended the Malibu memorial. Her mother, Lesley Vogel, was not invited, nor were Panettiere’s boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach.
Panettiere’s parents finalised their divorce in 2016 after years of separation. The actress and her mother had not seen eye-to-eye during the final years of Panettiere’s life.
Hickerson’s relationship with Panettiere had also been described as troubled, including arrests and a restraining order taken out against him by the actress.
