The people who understand what Hayden Panettiere went through growing up in the entertainment industry belong to a rather small club of former child stars that includes contemporaries like Hilary Duff, Alexa PenaVega and Christy Carlson Romano, all of whom this week paid tribute to the late actress following her death on Sunday, days ahead of what would have been her 37th birthday.
“I remember staying up late, chatting and gossiping, and connecting because we were part of such a small sliver of people who actually understood the strange lot in life we were navigating.. so young, with no real idea how to make sense of any of it,” Duff, 38, who rose to fame as a young star on the hit Disney Channel series “Lizzie McGuire,” wrote in a social media post Tuesday that she addressed to “Sweet Hayden.”
“Spy Kids” star PenaVega, like many this week, referenced late actresses Michelle Trachtenberg, 39, and Daveigh Chase, 35, who also grew up working in Hollywood and both died not very long ago.
“These aren’t just names from my childhood. They’re girls I grew up alongside, sharing a world that was exciting and also incredibly hard,” PenaVega, 37, wrote. “We were kids navigating something so big, and not everyone had the foundation or support they deserved.”
