Neutrogena Gives Panettiere a Posthumous Apology

After public backlash, Neutrogena is publicly reckoning with how it handled Hayden Panettiere more than a decade ago when she spoke out about suffering postpartum depression, reports NBC News. Days after the 36-year-old actor was found dead in South Carolina, the skincare brand posted on Instagram that it understands it "made her feel unsupported during a very difficult time," following renewed attention to Panettiere's claim that Neutrogena cut ties over a "morals clause" after she discussed postpartum.

"When I got that call that Neutrogena wanted to fire me over that, and my representative at the time said, 'That's illegal, you can't do that,' I knew that that was gonna be it," she told Jay Shetty's podcast earlier this year, per Business Insider. "That I was not gonna be invited back the next year, and I had worked with those people for 10 years." Panettiere worked with Neutrogena from 2005 to 2015. Neutrogena did not address contract details but praised her "courage" in speaking out and said it will make a "significant investment" in a health partner to expand access to postpartum depression care.