See Hayden Panettiere Busting Out Of A Jacket With No Shirt For amfAR

Hayden Panettiere is returning to acting, and to the red carpet, stunning fans with a sophisticated new look.

By Vic Medina | Published

Hayden Panettiere has been on a five-year hiatus from acting, but she’s ready to get back in front of the camera again (thanks to the Scream franchise), and she’s once again appearing on the red carpet at high-profile social events, turning heads like she always has. The Heroes actress stunned the recent amfAR Gala in West Hollywood by showing up in a red blazer mini-dress and black platform heels, ditching her “girl next door” look with a sleek, sophisticated look that surprised many onlookers.

The event was the west coast version of the amfAR gala, and was attended by celebrities including Tinashe, Kelly Rowland, Anna Sitar and Jenna Dewan. amfAR, previously known as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, holds the event to raise funds in an effort to find a cure, and is a popular event for celebrities.

Panettiere leaving the limelight hasn’t been completely by choice. By the end of her run on the hit ABC series Nashville, her struggles with addiction had become front-page news. it also led to a breakup with her ex-fiancé, Ukrainian and former boxer Wladimir Klitschko. She’s kept a fairly low profile during those years, but with her personal life back on track, she has been more active in public.

Although Panettiere has an Instagram account, she rarely posts there, and hasn’t interacted with fans in well over a month, following an appearance on the Facebook talk show Red Table Talk with Jada Pinkett Smith, Willow Smith and Jada’s mother, Adrienne Banfield-Norris. During that appearance, Panettiere spoke about her struggles with mental health and substance abuse, and her decision to sign over full custody of her daughter Kaya to ex-fiancé Klitschko in 2018.

Hayden Panettiere

The 33-year-old has discussed returning to acting for some time, and she finally got her chance earlier this year. After talking with the directors and producers of the Scream franchise, Hayden Panettiere returned to the role of Kirby, which she last portrayed in Scream 4 in 2011, for the upcoming Scream 6, coming to theaters in 2023.

Panettiere’s return will help fill a big hole in the franchise, as star Neve Campbell refused to return for the new film. She left the role of Sydney Prescott after more than 25 years over what she claimed was a pay dispute. She said she did not feel she was being offered what a film series lead with two decades of successful films should get, and said her male acting counterparts were getting better deals.

A Palisades, New York native, Hayden Panettiere got her start in acting at 11 months, appearing in commercials and moving on to small roles in TV and film. She appeared on One Life to Live at the age of 4, and had memorable roles in Remember the Titans (2000) with Denzel Washington and Joe Somebody (2001) with Tim Allen, but she hit superstardom in the NBC hit phenomenon Heroes in 2006 playing Claire, the indestructible cheerleader who spawned the catchphrase “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World.”

She also provided voices for animated films, including A Bug’s Life, Dinosaur, Racing Stripes, and the video game Kingdom Hearts.