Hayden Panettiere's 'Nashville' Mom Says She's Glad the Late Actress Is 'at Peace' as 'Her Inner Demons Were Too Much to Bear'

Hayden Panettiere’s Nashville mom, Sylvia Jefferies, wrote a heartfelt tribute to honor the late star after her tragic death.

"This hits deep. I’ve had to take the day to let the idea that Hayden is not with us, wash over me," Jefferies wrote in a post on her Instagram on Monday, August 17.

"I shoot straight from the hip. At times, Hayden was not easy to be around. I remember calling her a downright tornado. But she was our tornado," she added.

"The sun that appears, the light mist that begins, the rain that gets heavier, the swirling of everything around her, and then the gentle tapering rain returns, along with the calm and sun and light in her eyes, and the giggle in her voice," she continued in the caption.

Throughout the post, she shared a few throwback photos from the Nashville set along with a text chain the pair had exchanged after the release of her Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

Jefferies continued that though Panettiere "had an incredibly bright future ahead of her," her "inner demons were at times too much to bear."

"I pause as I reflect on her, looking at photos, remembering scenes, listening to voicemails, and remembering the first time she called me 'Mama' while she shared stories of her youth. We seemed far apart, but we were very close in our hearts,” the actress went on.

Jefferies shared that she and the Heroes alum "reconnected" after reading Panettiere's new memoir a few months ago, and that they had made plans to see each other.

"I was so proud of her for sharing the real Hayden, something that had to be excruciatingly painful for such a gentle soul," the Eastbound & Down alum wrote.

"Our hearts are shattered, knowing that you are not just a phone call or text away, but we can rest easy knowing that you’re at peace, with your brother, dancing in that water with the dolphins for whom you cared so dearly," she added, referring to Hayden’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died in February 2023 at 28 years old from a heart condition.

"I love you, sweet girl. Always, in all ways. Love, Mama," she concluded.

As previously reported by OK!, the Remember the Titans star was 36 when she died on Sunday, August 16. She was found unresponsive at an apartment complex in South Carolina.

Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:52 p.m., less than an hour after emergency responders were called by an unnamed friend. The 911 call revealed an individual suffering "cardiac arrest" from an alleged "overdose."

An official cause of death has not yet been confirmed.