Wladimir Klitschko is remembering his former fiancĂ©e, Hayden Panettiere, after her Death at 36, saying the actress will remain an important part of his life and of their daughter Kayaâs story.
"Our family is going through a time of profound shock and grief,"
Klitschko, 50, wrote on Instagram. "She left this world far too soon."
According to Fox News, Klitschko and Panettiere were no longer together when she died, but he said their past and her role in their family could never be erased.
"To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was," he wrote.
That promise reflected something Panettiere discussed with Fox News Digital before her Death. She said she and Klitschko had agreed they would never speak negatively about each other to their daughter.
"Wlad and I have a good relationship," Panettiere said. "We made a promise to each other that we would never say a bad word about each other to our child."
Panettiere died Sunday in South Carolina. First responders found her in cardiac arrest and attempted to revive her before she was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m.
The Greenville County Coroner's Office said a preliminary autopsy found no signs of trauma that contributed to her Death. Her cause and manner of Death remain pending as the investigation continues.
Panettiere and Klitschko share daughter Kaya, who was born in 2014.
Panettiere transferred custody to Klitschko in 2018, a decision she later said was made because she believed her daughter would have greater stability with her father in Europe while she dealt with serious personal struggles.
"I just knew that if I wanted to ... I knew how bad a place I was in," Panettiere previously said. "I hid it from my daughter as much as I could."
She also said she feared a public custody battle between two well-known parents would cause additional harm to Kaya.
Panettiere discussed those struggles in her memoir, "This Is Me," including her experiences with addiction, postpartum depression and growing up in the entertainment industry.
Klitschko also remembered Panettiere's career, praising the talent that made her a familiar face to television and movie audiences.
She began acting as an infant before appearing in projects including "A Bug's Life," "Remember the Titans," "Ice Princess" and "Heroes." She later starred as Juliette Barnes on "Nashville."
"Nothing will erase the times we shared or the place she had in our lives," Klitschko wrote. "Rest easy, Hayden. May you find eternal peace."