Hayden Panettiere was dropped from her partnership with skincare company Neutrogena after she opened up about her postpartum depression. Now, following her tragic death, the firing has brought renewed attention to the painful chapter as some of her fans are calling for a boycott.
Hayden Panettiere was found dead on Sunday, with the cause of death still not being known.
She spent her entire life in the spotlight, beginning to work as an actress as a toddler. Meanwhile, as she got older, she also took on new types of work.
She worked with the skincare company Neutrogera for around a decade, beginning when she was still a teenager. However, the partnership eventually came to an end.
Why? Hayden Panettiere publicly opened up about her experience with postpartum depression.
In 2015, Panettiere appeared on Live! With Kelly and Michael and spoke honestly about the struggles she faced after welcoming her daughter, Kaya.
Hayden Panettiere was dropped by skincare company after revealing postpartum depression
The actress said postpartum depression was something women needed to talk about and stressed that mothers should know they were not alone.
“There’s a lot of people out there who think that it’s not real,” Panettiere said during the interview.
“That it’s something that’s made up in their minds or, ‘oh, it’s hormones,’ and they kind of brush it off. And it’s not true. It’s something that’s completely uncontrollable and it’s really painful and it’s really scary and women need a lot of support.”
It wasn’t until years later, in her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere wrote that Neutrogena canceled her long-standing contract.
“Neutrogena canceled my long-standing contract, and it was yet another blow in a year that had given almost nothing else,” Hayden wrote.
This was the last thing I thought they would fire me over”
She later discussed the experience with Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast. Panettiere explained that she had been with the company for 10 years and that the contract contained strict morality clauses.
“Of all the things, too, that they would fire me over, this was the last thing I thought they would fire me over,” she told Shetty.
According to the actress, she never expected that speaking honestly about postpartum depression would be the thing that ended her relationship with the brand.
She also recalled how painful it was that, after a decade together, she did not receive what she felt was even a proper goodbye. Panettiere said the experience “really broke” her heart, although she added that she would not change what she had said.
As news of Hayden Panettiere’s tragic death became known on Sunday, the story of her being dropped by the company has resurfaced.
Fans vow to boycott company amid Hayden Panettiere’s death
Now, fans are flooding Neutrogena’s social media pages with criticism, as some state they will never purchase the brand’s products again.
The phrase “Neutrogena boycott” reportedly also saw a huge spike in online searches, with searches increasing by over 5,000 percent in three days, per NY Post.
Moreover, Kenvue Inc., the parent company of Neutrogena, fell more than 2% on Monday.
“I will never buy one of their products again in my life,” one person wrote on Reddit, NY Post reported.
“I do use their products, but I will not be buying any more, ever again,” a second added. “It may be just a small thing, but it matters.”
On Threads, Neutrogena’s own account has been hit hard following Hayden Panettiere’s death with flans flooding its comment section.
One post that the company posted in 2023 read, “Friends don’t let friends go to bed without removing their makeup,” to which one user replied, “Friends don’t drop friends when they’re suffering, but hey.”
Neutrogena has not publicly responded to the backlash.
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