Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother slams ex boyfriend after daughter’s sudden death

Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother has issued her first public statement since the actor’s death, slamming her ex-partner who is understood to have been in the apartment when she died.

Panettiere, 36, was at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, when she went into cardiac arrest and died on Sunday.

Her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were reportedly at the scene when the Hero’s star died.

“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson,” Vogel told NBC News.

In Panettiere’s recently released memoir , This Is Me: A Reckoning , the actress describes instances of alleged domestic violence from her ex-partner.

In one instance, Panettiere alleged Hickerson assaulted her to such a degree that she did not leave the house for weeks. She wrote that she hesitated to report the event for fear of the public finding out.

Hickerson was arrested on May 2, 2019, based on an allegation of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, according to Los Angeles County criminal court records.

He pleaded no contest on April 20, 2021, and was sentenced the next year to four years’ probation.

Panettiere requested a restraining order against Hickerson on July 14, 2020. The court docket reviewed by NBC News does not identify the victim in the case of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, and the outcome of the request for a restraining order is unclear from the case record.

In a statement in 2020, Panettiere said she was going public about the abuse to inspire others in abusive relationships to seek help.

“I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again,” Panettiere said at the time.

“I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry...it is a struggle and it’s a very challenging industry and it’s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path,” Vogel said.

Vogel said her son and Panettiere’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who died suddenly at the age of 28 in 2023, was now with her daughter.

“I just feel that she’s with her brother and they’re at peace,” she said.