Jonathan Jackson Shares Touching Tribute to Hayden Panettiere: “She Had Such a Bright Light Within Her”
Nashville actors Jonathan Jackson and Clare Bowen paid a touching tributes to their late co-star Hayden Panettiere on social media on Wednesday.
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In a message on Instagram, Jackson, who played Avery Barkley, the bad boy on-again and-off again love interest of Panettiere’s Juliette Barnes in the ABC country music drama, described his co-star as a “sensitive soul” who was “incredibly funny and witty.”
Panettiere, who died Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina at 36, and Jackson starred in Nashville for six seasons, from October 2010 to March 2016. Jackson described how they both “grew up in the industry” and shared that “silent knowing of how intense the struggles can be.” He went on to write that, “she was an absolute joy to work with. Focused, spontaneous and brilliant. The most important thing between friends and coworkers is trust, and we had this.”
He added that it was “not possible to express the shock and grief that so many of us feel right now.”
Panettiere’s other Nashville co-star, Australian actress Clare Bowen also posted a tribute on Instagram. Bowen, who played Scarlett O’Connor in the show, wrote a poem set to images of Bowen and Panettiere together from their time working on Nashville together. In one passage, Bowen writes, “I’ll remember you, cheeky in pretty red soles. You said kind things about strangeness, old boots, an old soul. You warned me our monsters only half hid at best…and then fixed the tear in my favorite dress.”
In another couplet, Bowen wrote, “We’ll see you someday in your beautiful wings, where vultures and sinners aren’t worthy to sing. Wove from new gold and celestial breath, this isn’t goodbye, it’s just “have a rest.”
Following the news of Panettiere’s death, many of her former co-stars on the various film and TV projects she had worked on shared deeply personal and emotional memories of the actress. Nashville alums Connie Britton and Charles Esten, as well as Solange Knowles (Bring It On: All or Nothing), Jack Coleman (Heroes), Griff Hurst (A Breed Apart), Neve Campbell (Scream) and Tim Fywell (Ice Princess) have all penned tributes to Panettiere.
Jonathan Jackson’s full note on Instagram:
“I have no words to express the loss of our beloved Hayden. She had such a bright light within her. She was a sensitive soul. Incredibly funny and witty. Amazingly gifted, with a great sense of empathy and compassion. We both grew up in the industry, although she started even younger than me, but we shared that. A silent knowing of how intense the struggles can be. She was an absolute joy to work with. Focused, spontaneous and brilliant. The most important thing between friends and coworkers is trust, and we had this. Elisa and I both love and cherish her deeply, like our own sister. She holds that place in our hearts. My prayer for her every day we worked together was that she would know how loved she is, and that she would find the peace that she was looking for. It’s not possible to express the shock and grief that so many of us feel right now. Our humble prayers are with her family. May God’s angels carry you to your place of rest and true peace. We love you Hayden. You will always be in our hearts. Always.”
Clare Bowen’s poem, posted on Instagram:
“It’s been raining in the treehouse for days…for you…you whispered like you’d found the sun, just in June. But you always were full of surprises and dreams pulling at threads and the lines in between. I’ll remember nights side by side in a nest on the same street by fate, that ridiculous bed. The day you got cross that I didn’t scare then by looking glass light cried for everyone there. Thank you for chasing me that day in the dark. I was shattered and bruised, a hollowed out heart. You’d been there. You listened to the bad…and the worst. Our faces painted with the kisses of a good wolf, a good ghost. I’ll remember you, cheeky in pretty red soles. You said kind things about strangeness, old boots, an old soul. You warned me our monsters only half hid at best…and then fixed the tear in my favorite dress. One, in so many in pain, in plain sight, with the last of yourself you kicked on the lights. We’ll see you someday in your beautiful wings, where vultures and sinners aren’t worthy to sing. Wove from new gold and celestial breath, this isn’t goodbye, it’s just “have a rest.” We’ll switch all the coffees, ride our horses too fast…dance with fireflies…and brothers…sisters…friends…under that beautiful blanket of stars. Fly safe, little butterfly. I miss you. Love, Luna Moth.”
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