Hayden Panettiere's on/off boyfriend with her during final moments

Hayden Panettiere's on/off boyfriend was with her during her final moments but didn't become emotional until she was declared dead.

The Heroes actress passed away on Sunday (16.08.26) at the age of 36 after going into a cardiac arrest at a South Carolina apartment, and a heavily-redacted police incident report obtained by NBC News stated that Brian Hickerson showed cops a "bag of medication" the star was taking at the time of her death.

The responding officer, who was named as Matthew Bryan, said he first spoke with Brian's brother Zach Hickerson, who was "very emotional" while emergency medical responders were "working on Hayden", but his sibling didn't show any emotion until they confirmed the Nashville actress had passed away.

The officer was wearing a body camera throughout the emergency responde but the footage hasn't been publicly released.

Brian and Hayden got together in 2018 and their relationship was blighted by the 37 year old being arrested on domestic violence allegations more than once.

In April 2021, Brian was jailed for 45 days after pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

Also part of his sentencing was four years probation, an order to attend 52 domestic violence classes, and a five-year restraining order which barred him from going near the Scream 4 actress.

Hayden previously described that experience of revisiting their abusive relationship for her recent memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning as "brutal, traumatic, and emotional".

She told Us Weekly: “It was important for me to word that experience properly. It’s a very embarrassing subject.

"The idea that I could allow something like this to happen to me blew my mind. It blew the minds of the people that knew me best.”

Earlier this year, Brian described his former girlfriend as “the sweetest thing in the world” and told TMZ: “It’s not about who you spend Saturday night with, it’s about who you spend all Sunday with, and Hayden Panettiere is a Sunday girl.”

Brian also described Hayden as the most talented person he had ever met, but acknowledged the difficulties surrounding their relationship and said he would be an “idiot” not to walk away and allow her to “flourish in her career”.

Despite the breakup, Brian told TMZ in May he still held out hope of marrying Hayden one day.

Hayden was subsequently approached at Los Angeles International Airport and asked about the possibility, laughing before making clear that she did not believe marriage between them was going to happen.