When a famous person dies unexpectedly, people who enjoyed their work often feel the loss deeply. The news of Hayden Panettiere’s death at 36 has particularly hit many millennials who grew up watching her performances in a way that can be hard to articulate.

Therapists and mental health experts say that reaction is completely understandable, and it says something meaningful about the generation that grew up with her.

“I hear this from clients all the time – that there is this confusion about why they’re crying over someone they’ve never even met,” Gina Moffa, a grief therapist and author of Moving On Doesn’t Mean Letting Go: A Modern Guide to Navigating Loss, told HuffPost.

“We have all felt it at some point with a favourite public figure. And what I say is this: Your brain doesn’t actually care whether the relationship was mutual. It bonds with what’s familiar, what’s constant, what’s shown up for you again and again, even if that showing up only ever went one direction over a TV screen or a radio.”

The clinical term that helps explain what many people are feeling right now is a parasocial relationship – a one-sided bond that the brain forms with a public figure through repeated exposure. But experts say the term doesn’t entirely capture what these connections actually feel like from the inside.

“If someone’s voice or presence has been an important or meaningful part of your life for years, through your breakups, your late nights trying to fall asleep, your growing up, your body doesn’t check whether they knew your name or were an actual part of your life in any reciprocal way,” Moffa said. “It only registers that this was steady, this was meaningful to me, and now it’s gone.”

Therapist Tychelle Graham-Moskowitz explained the neuroscience behind these bonds.

“Our brains process the familiar faces and voices of celebrities we come to know and love the same way they process real friends because we see them on our screens, often daily, in our own homes,” she said.

“This is partly rooted in mirror neurons, which fire when we observe someone else’s emotions and allow us to internally mimic or feel connected to what we see as we may be experiencing many of the same emotions and events in our own lives,” she continued.

“When we watch a celebrity on TV, these mirror neurons let us resonate with their emotions, creating a bridge of identification.”

That’s why your brain doesn’t need a two-way relationship to form a meaningful attachment. Spending formative years with a pop culture figure creates a sense of familiarity, which can foster a genuine sense of companionship.

“Whether it is music, movies, sports, television or social media, we can feel like our paths have mirrored the path of the celebrity and we have ‘grown up with them’ or they represent a particular moment or time in our lives,” said Dr. Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist and chief wellness officer at the University of Tennessee System.

“I think about this like, ‘Oh, that movie meant so much to me when…’ and we have feelings that associate with that movie, that time, that character, and those translate to the human who portrayed them.”

So when that celebrity dies, you might feel grief over who they were to you or that time in your life. For nostalgia-driven millennials, it can be a powerful gut punch.

“I do believe there is a special relationship with millennial grief of celebrities,” Moffa said. “With my millennial clients, what I notice is that the grief they experience is not really just about the person, but also about the version of themselves that existed the last time they watched them and how they felt about their own life and themselves in the world.

“These weren’t just actors and actresses – they were sitting on the couch with us as kids, shaping what we thought friendship or relationships or love looked like. So when they’re gone, part of what’s actually being mourned is that chapter of your life feeling unreachable in a new way.”

Because Panettiere was a child actor as well, many millennials literally grew up alongside her and feel her death in a deeply personal way.

“As we age as millennials, the death of celebrities shakes us out of our egocentric internal teenage feeling and forces us into the fragile reality that our own mortality is real,” Graham-Moskowitz said.

Public figures remind us of the passage of time and our own place within it.

“When a person who represented those memories or versions of ourselves dies, it can feel like a piece of history lost, or it can make us confront our own age more and the idea that we are getting older, our friends are getting older, and we will have more loss as a result,” Gold said. “Death reminds us that time has passed – even if part of us still feels like we were watching them on TV yesterday.”

Panettiere and other former child actors who have recently passed away – like Michelle Trachtenberg and Daveigh Chase – served as role models and influential peers in a sense.

“Celebrities who were present during your developmental years become part of your internal reference system,” said Chloë Bean, a licensed marriage and family therapist.

“They model resilience, sexuality, independence and aspirational qualities when you’re just starting to figure out who you are. You looked up to them in your youth for guidance and self-direction. So you’re grieving that chapter, your childhood, and the part of you that felt so connected to them.”

She also pointed to the role cable TV played in cementing these bonds as well.

“For many millennials, the TV was the babysitter and an escape,” Bean said. “These actresses felt like friends because they were in your home multiple nights a week, sometimes for years. You weren’t just watching them on the screen, the experience felt like you lived and grew up alongside them. Millennials compare themselves to millennial celebrities in a way that no other generation has before. We aged with them, watching them getting married, struggling, hitting their 30s and 40s.”

Other technological advancements further deepened the connection and the sense of certain celebrities as a constant, stable presence in life.

“Millennials were the first generation to have access to the internet in our homes as a regular occurrence, so not only did we see our favourite celebrities in movies, on television, in magazines and so on, but we got a chance to search more about them on the internet and eventually in the palms of our hands,” Graham-Moskowitz noted.

It’s safe to assume Gen Z may feel celebrity losses even more intensely due to their lifelong parasocial access as well.

“The loss of a celebrity can also be a grief trigger to other grief – other relationships we’ve lost or represent a loss of time, innocence and childhood, or even symbolise our own death or mortality,” Gold said. “And, the communal reaction on social media can also amplify the expression of it all. The grief is usually about more than just the person.”

Therapists pointed to another profound dimension in grieving Panettiere’s death.

“With Hayden specifically, I think what made this loss land so [personal] for so many people is that she wasn’t just a face we grew up watching – she used her platform to speak openly about postpartum depression and trauma and battles with drug use, at a time when very few public figures are willing to say those things out loud and be this vulnerable,” Moffa explained.

Indeed, Panettiere’s recent memoir and interviews added to the depth of connection.

“Unlike many celebrities who have struggled with mental health or substance abuse, Hayden was extraordinarily open about her experiences, and that kind of vulnerability results in followers truly rooting for her and wanting her to overcome these obstacles, which makes her loss even more devastating,” said licensed marriage and family therapist Becky Stuempfig.

“When someone visible says ‘me too,’ it gives people permission to stop hiding their own pain,” Moffa added. “She didn’t just play characters we loved; she showed up as herself, in her own struggle, and that kind of honesty tells people watching from their own dark moments that they’re not alone in the struggle. That can be a whole other part of the grief experience we don’t talk enough about.”

Bean captured what makes this grief so uniquely hard to put into words.

“The millennial generation will feel every celebrity passing because we grew up believing we knew them,” she said. “Social media provides intimacy and daily access, but growing up watching these actresses on shows created a fantasy that felt real. We’re grieving them like we’d grieve a friend who turned out to be a stranger, someone we only knew from one direction. That’s where the grief hits hardest, and it’s what makes it so difficult to articulate.”

If you’re feeling blindsided by how much a celebrity death is affecting you, therapists have some guidance.

“Don’t let anyone talk you out of feeling the shock and grief, because the relationship wasn’t ‘real’ in any traditional sense, or because they were ‘just a celebrity,’” Moffa said.

“Grief doesn’t require reciprocity to be legitimate. It only requires attachment and meaning. If someone shaped who you became, at any age, or time in your life, in any way, that grief deserves the same gentleness you’d give any other loss.”

She emphasised that you don’t need permission to feel deep sadness and loss.

“When a death is sudden and shocking, the unanswered questions and uncertainty about the death being accidental or intentional [exacerbate] the complicated nature of the grief process,” Stuempfig said. “This is very different than an anticipated dying process from a medical illness or ageing. Our brains and bodies have a harder time processing emotions when there are unanswered questions.”

Talk about those feelings with a trusted friend or family member, ideally even someone who was also a fan or can help identify these emotions.

“The concept of ‘name it to tame it’ can be helpful with grief as it is critically important to identify the various feelings that arise so they can be validated,” Stuempfig said.

Be mindful of social media consumption, too.

“You don’t need to read every tribute, every post, and every statement if you feel impacted,” Gold said. “You can still care about an event or person and their death, and detach and take time away from the news, if needed. You also should not feel like you have to post or comment if you don’t know what to say. You can take time to figure out your feelings about something or grieve alone, that is OK, too. You don’t have to say something to show you care.”

Remember that grief, as painful as it can be, may also be a source of social connection.

“As we mourn the deaths of our favourite celebrities, know that we collectively mourn together, much like to do when we mourn in our own family members,” Graham-Moskowitz said. “The connected space that the internet creates can bring us a sense of comfort and togetherness, where we feel seen. This can be helpful. Also, go call a friend!”

And when these experiences bring up heavier feelings around your own mental health, Gold encouraged reaching out.

“If any of these deaths make you think more about your own mental health, I hope you reach out and ask for help,” she said. “There are hotlines, local therapists and everything in between. You can also start with a trusted family member or friend. Just start somewhere.”

After paying a short tribute on Instagram, Melissa issued a lengthier statement to USA Today, admitting that she was “still in shock” about the news and lamenting that “Hayden should still be here”.

Back in April 2011, the late actor originated the role of Kirby Reed in Scream 4, returning to the franchise for the sixth instalment in 2023, by which point Melissa had joined the franchise.

Hayden also returned for the seventh film, which was released earlier this year. However, Melissa wasn’t involved in the series at this point, after being reportedly dropped from the franchise due to speaking out as a staunch supporter of Palestine, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Melissa said in her tribute: “I feel so incredibly lucky that I got to grow up watching [Hayden] and admiring her, and that I got to know her and share the screen with her. She will always be an icon in my book.

“Her strength and her light, despite everything she went through, were so evident and will always stay with me.”

She added: “I am forever grateful to her because she showed up for me when no one else did. That was just the kind of person she was: A rare, honest, badass who felt so deeply. Such a heart-shattering loss.

“My condolences and love to her mother, her beautiful daughter, and her loved ones.”

In 2024, Hayden told The Messenger that Melissa’s firing from the Scream series was “very unfair and upsetting”.

“After [Melissa spoke out], then a whole bunch of other actors and people in the industry started to do the same thing, right?” she observed (as reported by Variety). “It was almost like she just did it earlier than everyone else.”

Hayden added that she’d check in with Melissa to see how she was doing, which she appreciated as “a lot of people hadn’t really asked her how she felt”.

“[But I’m] not worried [about her],” Hayden concluded. “Melissa is such a badass as a human being and as an actress… She was hurt by it, but I think she took it in stride and was very, very gracious about it.”

At the time of Melissa’s Scream departure, production company Spyglass released a statement saying they have “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech”.

Melissa responded on Instagram: “First and foremost I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people.”

“I believe a group of people are NOT their leadership, and that no governing body should be above criticism,” she continued. “I pray day and night for no more deaths, for no more violence, and for peaceful co-existence. I will continue to speak out for those that need it most and continue to advocate for peace and safety, for human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me.”

Police in Greenville shared earlier this week that they’d been called to an apartment block in the South Carolina city on Sunday night, after an “acquaintance” of Hayden contacted emergency services.

“Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene,” a police spokesperson shared.

The Greenville Police’s statement went on to say: “The case is under investigation by the Greenville Police Department in conjunction with the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

Meanwhile, an autopsy report later revealed that there had been “no signs” of any physical trauma that could have contributed to Hayden’s death.

An outbreak of Salmonella in the UK has resulted in hundreds of people getting sick and one person dying.

More than a third of those impacted by the outbreak – thought to be linked to eating imported eggs – have ended up needing hospital treatment.

The majority have been able to recover without treatment, but would’ve suffered unpleasant food poisoning symptoms.

Of the cases identified by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), 199 were in England (47 of which were in London and 38 in Yorkshire and Humber), six were identified in Scotland, with one case in Wales and one in Northern Ireland.

The main body of cases occurred between 6 and 29 July 2026.

Dr Damien Tully, Associate Professor at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said the number of confirmed cases “is likely to be just the tip of the iceberg”.

He added: “Many Salmonella infections cause relatively short-lived gastrointestinal illness and people may recover without ever being tested.”

The UKHSA said the outbreak has been caused by S. Enteritidis, a common type of Salmonella bacteria. It’s spread via contaminated food (like eggs, poultry, meat, etc); contact with the environment, and can also spread from person-to-person.

An investigation is underway to identify the source. Of those who suffered symptoms, 114 were interviewed and completed an outbreak questionnaire. The majority (83%) reported eating food prepared outside of the home in the week prior to symptom onset.

There were five food businesses identified where two or more independent cases reported attending in the week prior to symptom onset. Eleven of these cases reported eating dishes made with eggs which came from multiple sources, including outside of the UK.

UKHSA said there’s no identified link to UK-produced eggs or poultry, at present, and noted a previous outbreak from 2025 was also linked to imported eggs.

Dr Kathleen O’Reilly, Associate Professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said previous research estimated that less than 10% of Salmonella cases require hospitalisation, “so it seems initially concerning that 38% in this outbreak have been admitted to hospital”.

“As the epidemic progresses, this number might change, especially as Salmonella cases are often underreported,” she added.

Symptoms of salmonella poisoning include:

• diarrhoea
• stomach cramps
• vomiting
• fever

These unpleasant effects can occur roughly 12 to 72 hours after becoming infected, and can last up to a week.

The UKHSA said immunocompromised individuals and those in vulnerable groups (such as young children and older adults) can experience more severe illness as a result of it such as blood stream infections, sepsis and even multiorgan failure.

It’s important to ensure eggs are fully cooked before eating them.

“Hygiene while preparing food is important, especially washing hands with soap, and chopping boards, after preparation,” Dr O’Reilly said.

The expert also encouraged consumers to look at restaurant food hygiene ratings before eating out.

“If you do get ill with diarrhoea or stomach cramps, take it easy, drink plenty of fluids, and cases will often resolve after a few days,” she said.

“If the illness is in young children, elderly, or other vulnerable groups, it would be sensible to contact your GP or ring 111 to talk with a health specialist.”

If the drought stretches on, further restrictions on water use might be put in place to preserve water supplies.

Per water regulator Ofwat, a non-essential use ban (NEUB) is a more serious step that water companies can take if dry conditions continue following a hosepipe ban.

Politics UK shared that ministers have been “told to prepare for a ban on car washes, window washing and refilling private swimming pools”, to which commenters unanimously aired concerns over data centres.

“Let’s ban data centres needlessly guzzling water,” read the top comment, which had garnered over 4,000 likes at the time of writing.

Another commenter chimed in: “I haven’t washed my car in 3 months because I feel bad about using the water. Meanwhile data centres are sucking it dry so people can make cartoon pictures of their dogs.”

Data centres are physical spaces which house the IT infrastructure (basically, a load of computer servers) that underpins modern life, from patient records and emails to product data and financial systems.

It’s thought there are around 555 data centres now in the UK – with this figure likely to jump by about 20% in the next five years.

The UK government has said that data centres are “critical to nearly all economic activity and public services, and were designated as critical national infrastructure in 2024”.

This puts data centres on an equal footing as water, energy and emergency services systems.

Concerns have been raised in recent times, as data centres require large energy and cooling capabilities – especially those supporting AI systems.

According to techUK, data centres either opt for air, refrigerant or water-based cooling systems “based on local climate, energy availability and water stress”.

It surveyed 80 data centre sites across England and, of the 73 responses, 51% of sites said they use waterless cooling systems, relying on air or refrigerants.

Almost two-thirds (64%) said they consume less than 10,000m³ of water annually, which is comparable to that of a leisure centre.

But water companies in areas where there are numerous data centres have shared concerns over usage.

Affinity Water serves Slough, which is home to a number of data centres (40 and counting), and said some individual facilities request supplies of up to 35 litres of water per second, equivalent to the peak water demand of 3,500 homes.

Roughly 40% of British-based data centres are within the M25 – an area which hasn’t seen any meaningful rainfall in some time.

Water UK, which represents water companies in the UK, has warned that the UK doesn’t have enough water for future data centres and estimates data centres in England are guzzling about 6.6 million litres of drinking water each day, which could rise to 19.8 million litres per day by 2030.

Per the Guardian, a briefing from the trade body said: “There appears to be an assumption that the country will always have enough water for its economic needs. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

At the time, the government said it was “looking at alternatives or ways to minimise impact on supplies and output of wastewater from data centres”, as well as “taking decisive measures to secure water supplies and meet higher demand”. This includes infrastructure investment and building nine new reservoirs.

Speaking to HuffPost UK about data centre water use, a government spokesperson said: “We want the UK to be a global leader in AI, but this must be done sustainably.”

They highlighted that many newer data centres are increasingly using advanced cooling systems that “significantly reduce water consumption”. The sector also operates under a Climate Change Agreement to encourage uptake of energy efficiency measures.

They ended: “Data centre water consumption amounts to 0.2% of non-household water usage in England. Our water resources and drought planning framework is kept under constant review to ensure that water is used efficiently and that essential services remain resilient during drought.”

Before I start, let me make one thing clear: I do not enjoy a pointless “proper” extra step when it comes to my food.

For instance, I am alright eating chocolate digestives the “wrong way” (according to McVitie’s). I will go choccie-up like a non-industry normie, thanks very much.

But sometimes, much to my annoyance, the pros are onto something.

Brie, for instance, loses its unpleasant ammonia tang after being brought to room temperature. Leaving it out for half an hour actually is worth your while.

And even though I do think fridge-cold strawberries are beautiful as is, berry producers Driscoll’s said those should come out of their chilly home long before you eat them, too.

So, I tried the tip this afternoon – and I’m so sorry, but they’re completely right.

Per the berry company, you can refrigerate strawberries in their original container for up to five days if you keep them dry.

But they “taste best at room temperature, so remove them an hour or two before you plan on eating them,” the company claims.

You should also rinse them just before eating them to get rid of any germs without risking making them soggy.

I’ll be honest; I thought the advice was a little too fussy for my liking. But Driscoll’s isn’t alone in recommending the method.

Southern Living go by a 30-minute warm-up rule.

BBC Good Food, meanwhile, puts it at an hour.

Even Worcestershire County Council weighed in, suggesting we “remove them from the fridge and bring to room temperature before eating”.

So, I thought I’d bring my punnet of this year’s beautifully sweet harvest out of my fridge an hour before my usual post-lunch snack to see for myself.

I get it; I have been diving straight into the fruit the second I remove it from the fridge all week.

But, sorry to say, the inconvenience of bringing them to room temperature really does transform their flavour (not least because that wonderful fragrance is so much more noticeable).

This may be because, as America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) shares, strawberries don’t actually have that much sugar; the smell is a big part of why we perceive them as sweet.

“Just a little bit of heat is enough to coax [the smell] out of the fruit and into the air,” Dan Souza shared in an ATK video, adding that cold temperatures suppress sweet flavours.

No wonder the ones I’d left out had more of that signature scent and mouth-wateringly sweet flavour, too – it was a night and day difference.

Personally, I’m never going back. And even if you don’t adopt the habit every single time you crave the berry, I recommend trying it at least once.

Now, it’s been revealed that the album’s accompanying visuals have led to her becoming the most-nominated artist at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, which celebrate achievements in music visuals over the past 12 months.

Madonna, of course, has a long history with the VMAs, delivering a show-stopping rendition of Like A Virgin at the first ever ceremony in 2004, locking lips with Britney Spears during a performance two decades later and scooping Video Of The Year for Ray Of Light in the mid-90s.

This year, she’s up for some of the night’s top prizes thanks to her Confessions II short film and the Sabrina Carpenter collaboration Bring Your Love, which served as the album’s lead single.

Just behind on nine nominations is Taylor Swift, while Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter each have seven.

Check out some of this year’s VMAs nominations below (and keep checking back as we’ll be updating our list as more are announced)…

Ariana Grande – Hate That I Made You Love Me

Bruno Mars – I Just Might

Madonna – Confessions II (The Film)

Sabrina Carpenter – Tears

Taylor Swift – The Fate Of Ophelia

Ella Langley – Choosin’ Texas

Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter – Bring Your Love

Olivia Dean – Man I Need

Raye – Where Is My Husband

Bebe Rexha and Faithless – New Religion

Harry Styles – Aperture

Lady Gaga and Doechii – Runway

Madonna – Confessions II (The Film)

PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson – Stateside

Tate McRae – Nobody’s Girl

The 2026 VMAs will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday 27 September.

Blake Lively is calling for people to be more “kind” in the wake of the deaths of actors Hayden Panettiere and Michelle Trachtenberg.

On Monday evening, Blake posted a picture of the two late actors – who died in August 2026 and February 2025, respectively – on Instagram, showing them behind the scenes of the 2005 teen movie Ice Princess.

“Be. Kind,” the former Gossip Girl star urged her followers.

She added: “You never know what others are going through. Thank you to both these women for all the joy you brought so many.”

In the late 2000s, Blake and Michelle shared the screen in the later seasons of Gossip Girl.

Reacting to Michelle’s death last year, which the New York City medical examiner’s officer later said was from complications caused by diabetes, the A Simple Favour actor remembered her former co-star’s “electricity”.

“You knew when she entered a room because the vibration changed,” Blake recalled in her tribute.

“Everything she did, she did 200%. She laughed the fullest at someone’s joke, she faced authority head on when she felt something was wrong, she cared deeply about her work, she was proud to be a part of this community and industry as painful as it could be sometimes, she was fiercely loyal to her friends and brave for those she loved, she was big and bold and distinctly herself.”

In recent years, Hayden had spoken candidly about the issues she’d faced throughout her time in the spotlight. This included opening up about her past struggles with abuse, addiction and her mental health in her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

This week, Greenville Police shared that they’d been called to an apartment block in the South Carolina city on Sunday night, after an “acquaintance” of Hayden contacted emergency services.

“Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene,” a police rep explained.

The statement went on to say: “The case is under investigation by the Greenville Police Department in conjunction with the Greenville County Coroner’s Office. The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

A subsequent autopsy report also said that there had been “no signs” of any physical trauma that may have contributed to Hayden’s death.