Gayle King hits out at Hayden Panettiere's mom

Gayle King has hit out at Hayden Panettiere's estranged mom's comments following the actress' death.

The Heroes' actress passed away on Sunday (16.08.26) at the age of 36 and Lesley Vogel subsequently reflected on how her daughter had "sadly lost her way" and told how she wished she had “stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.”

Reading out the remarks, Gayle added on CBS Mornings: “You know, guys, you read this and all I can think is, ‘Thanks, Mom, for nothing.' "

Vladimir Duthiers added: “I mean, Hayden Panettiere spent years publicly acknowledging her own failures, her own struggles. She did it with you in that interview. She cannot respond now, and for her mother to use these days after Hayden’s death to just remind the world just how much trauma she caused, it’s unseemly.”

Gayle noted the Nashville star's previous comments about having a complicated relationship with her mom - who was Hayden's manager until she was 19 - and added: "You hear stuff like that and you realise it was still very much [a work] in progress.

“It makes me so sad of the opportunity that you have after your daughter’s death that that’s what you choose to leave us with."

Kelly O'Grady added “we would all agree” if Vogel had “stopped at ‘she’s amazing and she’s talented.’”

Vladimir added: “You would hope a mother’s instinct is just mourn your daughter."

Praising Hayden's dad, Alan Panettiere's statement about her death, Gayle added: "“Follow the lead of your partner, the father of her child.”

In an interview with NBC News conducted two days after her daughter's death, Lesley described Hayden as “an amazingly talented person in so many departments.”

She added: “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.

“I think it becomes very difficult to be true to yourself, and I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different. I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.”

Hayden previously reflected on how her relationship with her mother grew strained as the boundaries between her as a parent and manager increasingly crossed.

She said on On Purpose with Jay Shetty in May: “Everything was business. I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.”