Hayden Panettiere Mourned Late 'Ice Princess' Costar Michelle Trachtenberg Nearly 1 Year Before Her Own Death: 'I'm Grateful That I Have the Memories'

Hayden Panettiere reflected on her relationship with late actress Michelle Trachtenberg almost a year before her own tragic death.

Trachtenberg died due to complications with diabetes mellitus in February 2025. Panettiere died in South Carolina on August 16 after a suspected overdose.

The pair starred alongside one another in the 2005 film Ice Princess when they were just teenagers, but their bond goes all the way back to childhood.

"Actually, her grandmother lived across the street from my grandparents in Brooklyn. So I knew Michelle way before [Ice Princess]," Panettiere remembered during a September 2025 interview. "Yeah, like Harriet the Spy days."

Both actresses grew up as child stars in the 1990s, with Trachtenberg shooting to stardom in Harriet the Spy and Panettiere in Remember the Titans.

"We not only grew up in the same industry, but grew up knowing each other’s families, relatively closely, just because of the distance," she told Entertainment Weekly. "We would have block parties. So I have memories of her and I from long ago."

After growing up with one another and seeing each other throughout the industry for their entire childhoods, Panettiere said it was "great" to work together in the hit film Ice Princess.

The movie, which featured Kim Cattrall, was based on The Princess Diaries author Meg Cabot's novel by the same name.

"It was great to work with Kim Cattrall, who was in that, who is amazing, is phenomenal," she added at the time. "It was such a unique experience. I mean, we had to learn how to figure-skate in six weeks, which is no easy feat."

"But it was so much fun," the star continued. "We had a lot of fun and I’m very grateful that I have the memories that I have with her."

Panettiere lost her life more than a year after her costar, after traveling to South Carolina with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson.

First responders were called to an apartment in Greenville when the Nashville actress was found unresponsive. Dispatch audio made mention of "cardiac arrest" and a suspected "overdose," though no cause of death has been determined.

"It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden," her father, Skip Panettiere, announced to various outlets. "She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her and to the millions who watched her onscreen."

Cattrall paid tribute to her late Ice Princess screen partner in a heartwarming Instagram post.

"Rest in peace, sweet Hayden. Gone far too soon," the actress wrote, with a picture of the pair smiling on set.

Similarly, Cattrall posted about Trachtenburg's death more than a year prior.

"Rest in peace, sweet Michelle," she wrote with a picture of the duo at the rink.