Dove Camerons Summer: Murders, Calls, and Betrayal

Dove Cameron was in third grade when she discovered her childhood best friend had been murdered.

It was, the actress told Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper last week, 'impossible to process.'

But it would only be the first in a series of tragic losses for the former child star, 30, that she struggled with behind the scenes as an up-and-coming actress – and is now opening up about.

On the podcast, Cameron – legal name Chloe Celeste Hosterman – recalled meeting her friend Hayley Byrne when they were both two years old while growing up in Bainbridge Island, Washington. They had an instant bond.

But in 2004, Hayley, nine, and her sister Kelsey Byrne, 11, were murdered by their father Stephen Byrne, 50, while spending a night at his home in Edmonds, Washington.

'I was very, very, very, very, very disturbed by knowing someone for all that time and being raised around them and then realizing that they are capable of doing something so harrowing,' she said.

Dove Cameron recently opened up to Alex Cooper about the loss of her childhood best friend and her father

Cameron, pictured here as a young girl, was only eight years old when her friend was killed

Pictured: Kelsey and Hayley Byrne

'I had stayed with her dad for quite a lot of the summer before [the murder] happened,' Cameron said, recalling the parents' 'messy' divorce.

'And I think even at eight, it was, like, a dark energy. He was a very angry man.'

But according to reports at the time, those close to him were blindsided. One friend saying she did not see any signs of mental illness, only 'a man grieving over a divorce and in anguish over his children.'

Stephen and his wife Suzanne Dawson divorced in 1999 after problems reportedly persisted in their marriage. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, there were disagreements about parenting, as Stephen wanted to see his daughters more often.

So, when Dawson proposed moving from Bainbridge Island to Seattle due to her job, Stephen fought it. The court, however, allowed the move, per the outlet, and he moved to Edmonds to be closer to the girls.

But on November 22, 2004, Stephen killed his two young daughters and himself.

He had sent e-mails to friends and relatives announcing his plans to kill his children, according to the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children, and stated that 'the injustice of our judicial system is something I will not live with.'

He also wrote, 'I am exercising the right to determine one's destiny,' and 'I know they are better off [dead] than they would be without me.'

Stephen then called 911 and advised the police to come to his house. When they arrived, police found him dead in the backyard of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and the girls dead in their beds.

Police said at the time that a tank of helium and an empty bottle of the prescription sleep medication Ambien were discovered in the home.

The singer and actress has been open about her mental health struggles in recent years, posting a teary-eyed selfie to Instagram in 2022 and a lengthy note about 'depression and dysphoria'

She told Cooper she rarely talks about her friend's death

Cameron, who was eight at the time, recalled the day she learned what had happened to her friend, telling Cooper that she had been sick and stayed home from school, picking up the landline to listen to a conversation between her parents and her principal.

Cameron recalled her pre-school principal Janice telling her parents on the other line, 'This is going to be a really, really disturbing call. Hayley and Kelsey are gone. Steve is gone and he took the girls with him.'

Her friend’s death, she said, ‘fissured’ her brain, affecting how she processes things, despite her parents’ best efforts to get her a therapist.

'I still have issues,' said Cameron, who admitted she ‘rarely talks about' her friend’s death.

The event would be the catalyst for what would become her years-long battle with depression and anxiety – and only the first in a string of devastations in her personal life.

On the podcast, she detailed her father Philip Alan Hosterman’s battle with depression and bipolar disorder. Cameron explained that her dad was not a 'love match' with her mom and suggested he was 'at the very least, not straight.'

By the time she turned 14, Cameron's parents had divorced, and she moved to Los Angeles with her mom, Bonnie Wallace, to pursue her acting career.

There, she landed her breakthrough role on the Disney Channel as twin sisters Liv and Maddie Rooney on the show Liv and Maddie, which premiered in 2013.

But behind the scenes, she suffered another tragedy: the loss of her father.

Cameron recalled sensing ‘something bad going on’ with her dad when he visited them in Los Angeles, and, just months after his return to Washington, they got a phone call that he had taken his life.

As a result, Cameron said she suffered from 'full panic attacks' while working on Liv and Maddie.

Upon moving to Los Angeles, Cameron landed a role on the Disney show Liv and Maddie, but behind the scenes, she suffered another tragedy: the loss of her father

As a result of her father's (pictured) suicide, Cameron said she suffered from 'full panic attacks' while working on Liv and Maddie

On Call Her Daddy, Cameron detailed her father Philip Alan Hosterman’s (pictured) battle with depression and bipolar disorder

Cameron (pictured in 2014) has previously opened up about navigating fame at a young age while simultaneously grieving the loss of her father

Navigating newfound fame while also grieving the recent death of her father had a serious effect on her mental health, she previously told Armchair Expert host Dax Shepard.

'There was so much going on in my personal life,' Cameron said last year. 'That's going to affect any kid. When you're 15 and that happens, it changes the course of your life.'

During that time, she said she also struggled to understand her father's death.

'There was no way for me to wrap my head around it. Understand it, conceptualize it,' she added.

'We were at his funeral, and then like, on Bainbridge Island. And then a couple months later, I was at The Grove with people asking me to sign glossies. I didn't know how to really reconcile with that.'

On Call Her Daddy, Cameron revealed that she now suffers from 'phone anxiety,' in part caused by the fact that 'all three of [her] big losses have come via phone call.'

In July 2019, Cameron's Descendants co-star Cameron Boyce died at the age of 20 while asleep at his home in Los Angeles as a result of a seizure. His family said at the time that the seizure was brought on by an 'ongoing medical condition.'

Following his death, Cameron shared an emotional video paying tribute to her close friend and co-star.

In July 2019, Cameron's (left) Descendants co-star Cameron Boyce (second from left) died at the age of 20

Following his death, Cameron shared an emotional video paying tribute to her close friend and co-star

'Cameron was always good and kind,' she said in the clip.

'He was selfless and generous, he was magnanimous and arguably a true philanthropist at only 20. Beloved by anyone who had ever been lucky enough to experience his light and indescribable energy. Cameron was the ultimate example of a human being,' she continued.

'The last 72 hours have felt like two weeks and I've spent them trying to make my thoughts and feelings into words that might communicate anything about what I'm feeling,' Cameron shared. 'I've been unsuccessful… my system is still in shock and my brain is still foggy and full of holes.'

'Cameron was one of my favorite people alive in the world, though I know that's not unique to me,' she added. 'Cameron was magic – an earth angel.'

The actress explained how Boyce was always a loyal and caring friend to her, including how he 'talked [her] down from countless ledges, got [her] through eating disorders, helped [her] out of a dark relationship and through endless breakdowns.'

She called Boyce 'undoubtedly the most talented person most of us will ever know,' concluding her video, 'What a gift you were, you turned the world on its head. We can all only hope to be half of the human that you were - and you deserved so much more time.

'Goodbye to an earth angel. I will spend the rest of my life missing and loving you and all the better for knowing you.'

Cameron, it seems, has found someone she can lean on: her fiance, Damiano David (pictured together)

David proposed last year and the couple announced their engagement in January  

Cameron later honored her friend by getting a tattoo on her arm in memory of Boyce. The ink depicts a gun with a flower coming out of it to commemorate Boyce's gun violence awareness project, called Wielding Peace.

Over the years, Cameron has continued to pay tribute to her former co-star on his birthday and the anniversary of his passing.

Yet Cameron, it seems, has found someone to lean on amid the tumult: her fiancé, Italian singer and Maneskin frontman Damiano David.

‘He has always been so intuitive, supportive, truly unflappable, unshakable, and so ready to – especially with this – to be like, “I do not know, I cannot say the words that heal,”’ she said on Call Her Daddy.

‘He’s like a big... basin for all of these things,’ she added. ‘He only has interest in not carrying it for me, because he knows he can’t, but loving me through it.’

‘He’s never wavered. I've never once seen him be like, ‘This is too much.’’