This past May, Hayden Panettiere alleged Neutrogena tried to fire her in 2015 for speaking about her struggle with postpartum depression. Following the actor's death, fans are renewing their calls to boycott the skincare company.
Panettiere alleged Neutrogena contract was severed in 2015 after she spoke about postpartum depression
Helen Surgenor · CBC News
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For months, the calls for skincare company Neutrogena to address an allegation made back in May by Hayden Panettiere have been growing louder.
They reached maximum volume after the actor's death on Sunday.
Now, Neutrogena has responded with a post on Instagram.
In the post — which doesn't allow users to comment — Neutrogena did not go into detail about why its longtime partnership with Panettiere ended, or respond to the allegation that it was because she spoke about postpartum depression.
The brand said: "We are proud to have partnered with her and understand that we made her feel unsupported during a very difficult time. This is not what Neutrogena stands for or who we want to be."
The allegation
Panettiere, who played a cheerleader on Heroes and Bring it On: All or Nothing and a country superstar on Nashville, was also a global brand ambassador for Neutrogena between 2005 and 2015.
In late 2014, she gave birth to a baby girl, and in 2015 appeared on the TV talk show Live with Kelly and Michael, where she spoke openly about her struggle with postpartum depression.
Shortly after that, her longtime partnership with Neutrogena ended.
While speaking to Jay Shetty on his podcast On Purpose this past May, Panettiere alleged that Neutrogena had tried to fire her for those 2015 comments by invoking her contract's morality clause.
"My representative at the time said, 'That's illegal, you can't do that,' and even though ... she saved the day that year, I knew that ... I was not going to be invited back [to represent Neutrogena] the next year."
WATCH | Tributes pour in for Hayden Panettiere after her death at 36: Tributes pour in for Hayden Panettiere after her death at 36 August 17| Duration 2:06
Panettiere said she never heard from anybody at the company after that incident in 2015.
"It made me realize and understand exactly what people thought of women who experience postpartum depression and how misunderstood it is, how much stigma there is around it," she told Shetty.
The backlash
Fans organized a boycott against Neutrogena after that podcast episode was released. One beauty influencer went so far as to use the audio from the podcast in a get-ready-with-me-style video captioned "Neutrogena hates women!"
Following Panettiere's death on Sunday, fans are making their wrath known again.
For the past three days, they have been flooding Neutrogena's Instagram and Threads accounts calling for the company to publicly address the allegation.
"Hey so you should probably address the fact that you fired Hayden Panettiere after she spoke out about her battles with postpartum depression … and now she’s dead," user kelseycombe wrote on Threads. That post got more than 70,000 likes.
"So @neutrogena wanna tell us what’s wrong with postpartum depression?" reads the top comment in response to an ad Neutrogena posted on Instagram three days ago.
Another popular post on Reddit argued, "What Neutrogena did to Hayden deserves a boycott."
Neutrogena's response
In its Instagram post, Neutrogena said, "We are deeply saddened by Hayden Panettiere's passing," and described her as a valued member of the brand's community.
It said Neutrogena did not want to respond so soon after the actor's death "out of respect for Hayden's family and loved ones."
The brand also referred to the actor's decision to speak out as courageous and said it "inspired important conversations" and brought greater awareness to the issue —something Neutrogena is now promising to contribute to.
"We are making a significant investment to a long-standing community health partner to help give more women access to the support they need, including care for postpartum depression."
It said it would provide more details once plans are enacted.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Helen Surgenor is a producer for CBC News based in Toronto, currently working for the entertainment unit. She spent years waking up before dawn to make the daily news podcast World Report. She has reported in Alberta, Iqaluit and Barbados. You can reach her at helen.surgenor@cbc.ca.
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