At just 16, Hayden Panettiere was handed a pill that would propel her "downfall of addiction".The US star — who died last week aged 36 — wrote she was given the drug as a teen to boost her energy ahead of a red carpet appearance.It was just one of the candid disclosures she made in the weeks before her death, in a memoir that laid bare the challenges of child stardom, substance abuse and postpartum depression.Early coronial reports from Panettiere's death say she suffered a cardiac arrest, while police dispatchers said they were resuscitating the star after a possible "overdose".The US Drug Enforcement Agency has also reportedly joined the investigation.And while it's still unknown if drugs or alcohol played a factor in her death, Panettiere has joined the tragic roll call of former child stars who have died prematurely over the last year or so.Hayden Panettiere (centre) wrote of how the traumatic storylines she portrayed led her to associate "catastrophe with adoration". (AP: Kevork Djansezian/File)Her Ice-Princess co-star Michelle Tratchenberg died aged 39 last February, as a result of complications from diabetes — with co-star Rosie O'Donnell later alleging Tratchenberg struggled with addiction before her death.Daveigh Chase, of The Ring and Lilo & Stitch fame, died in June aged 35 of AIDS, after suffering from drug abuse and homelessness.Ice Princess director Tim Fywell paid tribute to his dual leads, Hayden Panettiere and Michelle Trachtenberg, saying he would remember them as "two shining talents, gone far too soon". (Getty Images: Alli Harvey/Stuart Weitzman)Child stars have long been a vital facet of Hollywood, but this latest triad of deaths has reignited calls for better protections.Anna Paquin, who was 11 when she won her Oscar, has joined the calls for better support for child actors.