// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Drugs at their fingertips, intense pressure: Why child stars fall into addiction
Hayden Panettiere was 16 when drugs first arrived in her life in Hollywood.
Ahead of a red carpet event for the hit series Heroes, she has said someone on her team handed her a pill to help amp up her energy. The hit sci-fi NBC series had catapulted the teen into a household name - and that brought with it intense pressure and exhaustion she says felt overwhelming.
"Within minutes, a wave of energy washed over me, like I'd just woken up from the most refreshing night's sleep of my life," Panettiere wrote about that pill in her memoir, which was released just months before her death.
She called it "the gateway drug that ushered me toward the good of pharmaceuticals and the downfall of addiction".
The star's sudden death at the age of 36 has placed a renewed focus on her struggles with mental health and substance abuse, and re-ignited a discussion about the pressures of Hollywood on child stars.
The coroner's office in Greenville, South Carolina said crews treated a woman in "cardiac arrest" and her autopsy showed "no signs of trauma".
No cause of death has been released, though additional tests are yet to be completed.
Audio from police dispatchers and crews who responded to the address said they were responding to a "cardiac arrest" and detailed their efforts to resuscitate the woman after a possible "overdose". Panettiere's ex boyfriend, Brian Hickerson - who has admitted to abusing her - and his brother Zack, were with Panettiere when emergency services came, according to a police report.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on their part, according to police.
It is not known if drugs or alcohol played a factor in her death, but the US Drug Enforcement Agency is joining an investigation into her death, according to US media reports.