Remember the Titans star Ethan Suplee made a candid confession about smoking heroin in a poignant tribute to his late co-star Hayden Panettiere.

Suplee, 50, spoke about his addiction struggles in an essay shared via his Substack page on Monday, a day after Panettiere’s shock death at 36 from a suspected overdose.

The actor, who played the lovable offensive lineman Louie Lastik in the 2000 film, recalled attending the Los Angeles premiere of the movie and sharing a sweet moment with the ten-year-old child star.

‘September 23, 2000, was the night of the Remember the Titans premiere at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. On the red carpet, Hayden Panettiere, the ten-year-old girl from the movie, ran up to me, leapt into my arms, and gave me a big hug,’ he wrote.

‘Holding her I was lighter, some of her energy and innocence washed over me, and for a moment my smile was genuine.’

Suplee, who’s undergone a massive weight loss transformation in recent years, added: ‘I went from the press line to the bathroom and smoked heroin. ‘

Suplee explained that he became emotional after meeting the real Lastik, whom he played in the film, writing: ‘He wasn’t fat. Not like I was. I imagined his disappointment at seeing who they’d gotten to play him. So I went back to the bathroom and smoked heroin.’

His mood took another turn for the worse after he broke a golf cart by sitting on it.

The actor said he went on to smoke heroin while sitting in the bathroom and crying as the movie played. He added that he felt better while seeing Panettiere at the end of the premiere.

‘I saw Hayden one last time, as we made our way out of the stadium. Once again, she leapt into my arms, and once again I felt some relief.’

He continued: ‘I didn’t die of an accidental overdose that night. But I went to bed believing I wouldn’t wake up, and that didn’t seem so bad. Better than whatever a new day offered.’

He ended the post by referencing the deaths of Panettiere and actor Harold Pruett, who died from an accidental drug overdose in February 2002 at age 32.

‘I feel a tremendous sense of loss today, I don’t know what they were going through at the end. I only know that for them, the battle is over. And I’m sad.’

‘The miracle of my life wasn’t just asking for help, it was finding the courage to accept it. Something that seemed impossible.’

Based on a true story, Remember the Titans followed coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) as he worked to integrate a high school football team in Virginia in 1971. Panettiere played Sheryl Yoast, the daughter of assistant coach Bill Yoast (Will Patton). The film also starred Ryan Hurst, Wood Harris, Donald Faison, Kate Bosworth and Ryan Gosling.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office has said Panettiere’s cause of death remains under investigation, however, audio of the 911 call from her apartment showed a dispatcher described it as a ‘cardiac arrest.’

A dispatcher could be heard in the audio saying that Panettiere had suffered a suspected overdose, and sources told TMZ that Narcan, a nasal medication used to treat an opioid overdose, was also found on a mattress at the property.

Panettiere was found unresponsive on Sunday in a living room armchair by her boyfriend’s brother, TMZ has reported.

According to their anonymous source, Zach Hickerson found the actress in the chair at around 1.30pm.

Brian Hickerson was asleep in a bedroom in the Greenville, South Carolina, loft where the pair had been staying, the source added.

Zach and Brian called 911 to alert when they failed to wake Hayden up. Emergency Medical Services teams ‘worked on her’ for nearly an hour before she was formally declared dead in front of the brothers, according to the police report.

An officer at the scene said Zach was ‘very emotional’ as he saw paramedics perform CPR. Brian did not appear to show emotion until Hayden was declared dead.

After cops arrived on the scene, Brian allegedly then showed police a ‘bag of medication’ that Panettiere had been taking at the time of her death.

Panettiere first began dating Hickerson in 2018, however, their on-off relationship became tumultuous as he was arrested several times on domestic violence charges.

Panettiere had spoken of her troubled childhood in the spotlight in recent months and revealed intimate details of her relationship with Hickerson in her memoir published three months before her death.

She had an 11-year-old daughter with her ex-partner Wladimir Klitschko, a former boxer turned Ukrainian government official who has full custody of the youngster.

In her memoir, titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere alleged that Hickerson once beat her so severely that she had to remain in her house for weeks to keep her injuries from the public.

Panettiere’s relationship with Hickerson appeared to end in 2020, and in July of that year she filed for a restraining order against him. The outcome of her request is not stated in court records.

The Greenville Police Department said in a statement that ‘the preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances,’ and an autopsy found ‘no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death.’