Melissa Gilbert Calls for Safeguards for Former Child Actors After Panettiere’s Death

Melissa Gilbert published a Substack essay called “Enough Is Enough,” in which she lamented the deaths of three former female child actors—Michelle Trachtenberg, Daveigh Chase and Hayden Panettiere—within a single year, calling the pattern “very, very wrong.” Though she never worked directly with Panettiere, Gilbert recalled brief collaborations with Trachtenberg and Chase and expressed that each loss feels personal, as if it were her own.

She recounted her own experiences of being forced to work while ill or grieving, noting a lack of adult support on set after her father’s death. Gilbert suggested that the rise of mobile phones and relentless public scrutiny exacerbate the exploitation of young performers, and she proposed that former child stars unite to demand substantive change, prioritizing free mental-health services. The essay also mentioned Panettiere’s 11-year-old daughter Kaya, who lives in Ukraine with her father Wladimir Klitschko after Panettiere relinquished custody in 2018. Gilbert concluded with a plea to stop further deaths.