Neutrogena Facing Backlash Over Hayden Panettiere Death
Hayden Panettiere spent a decade as a Neutrogena brand ambassador. In May 2026, just three months before her death, she told Jay Shetty's podcast what ended it.
After she appeared on Live! with Kelly and Michael in 2015 and spoke candidly about her experience with postpartum depression, she said Neutrogena invoked a morality clause in her contract and moved to terminate their relationship.
Her representative pushed back, arguing it was illegal to drop someone for discussing a medical condition. Neutrogena backed off. The existing contract was completed.
It was not renewed. "Neutrogena canceled my long-standing contract, and it was yet another blow in a year that had given almost nothing else," she wrote in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Following her death on August 16, those clips resurfaced and went viral. A Reddit post titled "What Neutrogena did to Hayden deserves a boycott" attracted thousands of upvotes within hours. Social media users across platforms announced they were done buying Neutrogena products.
Neutrogena has not issued any statement in response to Panettiere's account, not in May when she first revived it publicly, and not since her death. Her allegations have never been publicly contested or confirmed by the brand.
