Hayden Panettiere’s mother has given her first televised sit-down interview days after revealing to the Daily Mail what she really thinks happened at her daughter’s death-scene Airbnb.
Lesley Vogel, 70, became emotional as she revealed that she gave her late daughter, who died at age 36 last week, an ultimatum over her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson.
The Heroes actress was found dead of a suspected overdose on August 16 at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, where she had traveled with Hickerson, a native of the state.
Vogel, who was estranged from Panettiere, gave a bombshell hour-long interview to the Daily Mail on Saturday, where she made jaw-dropping allegations about her daughter’s on-off partner and expressed fury at ‘shameful’ Gayle King, who criticized Vogel’s parenting skills.
On Monday morning, Vogel appeared on Good Morning America, claiming that she had given Panettiere one final demand during their last phone call, which took place a little less than a year ago.
The mother, who also lost her son Jansen at age 28 in 2023, claimed to GMA that she allegedly told her daughter that they could not have a relationship if she was with Hickerson, saying: ‘She knew that Brian was toxic. She knew she had to get him out of her life.’
Hayden Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, in her first televised sit-down interview after revealing to the Daily Mail what she really thinks happened at the death-scene Airbnb
Vogel revealed she had given Panettiere one final demand at the advice of her therapist during the mother-daughter’s last phone call
The Heroes actress was found dead, aged 36, of a suspected overdose on August 16 at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, where she had traveled with Hickerson
‘I did not by any stretch of the imagination think this was gonna happen to Hayden,’ Vogel added to GMA. ‘I don’t know why. I just didn’t. Maybe I didn’t want to.’
The mom also claimed that Panettiere said that she wanted to leave Hickerson for good when she stayed with the actress one year ago.
However, Vogel claimed that six weeks after her visit, the Nashville actress began to pull away from her.
Then, after some time, Vogel claims that Panettiere called her and told her that she was back with Hickerson.
Vogel said: ‘When I got the phone call from her saying “I’m going to be with the person I love”… I just lost it.
‘I could not believe she had gone that far back, that he had been successful in reeling her back in with all the things he had done to her.’
Panettiere and Hickerson had an on-off relationship from 2018 to 2022 that was marred by domestic violence incidents and arrests – with Hickerson serving jail time for abusing her. In recent months, they had been seen spending time together once again.
The 70-year-old mother became emotional as she told Good Morning America that she gave her late daughter an ultimatum over her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson
The mother – who also lost her son, Jansen, at age 28 in 2023 – said: ‘I needed it. I needed to have that pocket of time. Of course, I thought it was gonna be a pocket of time’
Vogel has received criticism over how she has conducted herself in the wake of her famous daughter’s death and was angry as she unleashed on her ‘haters’ during the GMA interview.
She said: ‘I would say to the haters out there, “You don’t have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child. That’s my domain.”‘
The mother also said that she is still processing the death of her daughter, as she explained, ‘It will probably hit me later on.’
She also got tearful as she recalled the moment when she received the call about Panettiere’s death, as she said that she was ‘numb’ and ‘couldn’t feel anything.’
Vogel said: ‘I still am not grasping that this is real. It doesn’t feel real; my mind tells me it’s not at times. You know, it’s going to be a process.’
Panettiere was found unresponsive in a South Carolina apartment last week and was later declared dead.
Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were both at the scene when Panettiere was pronounced dead.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has joined the probe into the actress’s death.
Vogel has received a lot of criticism over how she has conducted herself in the wake of her famous daughter’s death, as she unleashed on her ‘haters’ during the GMA interview. Above, Panettiere and Vogel in 2007
Greenville Police and the coroner’s office are running parallel investigations, TMZ reported on Wednesday.
The DEA’s reported involvement aligns with paramedics reporting a suspected overdose over dispatch calls. First responders located Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, inside the Greenville, South Carolina, apartment where Panettiere died.
It is still not known if narcotics contributed to her death, as toxicology results are pending.
In 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a girlfriend and was sentenced to 45 days in county jail, 52 mandatory domestic violence classes and a five-year restraining order.
Panettiere wrote about his alleged abuse of her in her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. She described the first time Hickerson allegedly became physically violent, writing about being slapped after he became enraged and how the abuse escalated.
‘The slaps become hits,’ she wrote. ‘One night he busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks.’
‘Everyone around her thought she deserved better,’ a music source tells me. ‘Nobody understood why she kept going back to him. We could see the pattern and we were terrified she couldn’t see it herself.’
In 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a girlfriend and was sentenced to 45 days in county jail, 52 mandatory domestic violence classes and a five-year restraining order
Panettiere began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas, then gained wider recognition for her role in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, and as the voice of Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life.
Panettiere later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes before starring as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville.
She earned two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress on the show, while her singing produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Panettiere’s film credits include 2006’s Bring It On: All or Nothing, the comedy-drama film Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.
She had an 11-year-old daughter called Kaya following a life-threatening birth, and later gave full custody of the child to her former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
The former child star made a name for herself with roles in Remember the Titans, Heroes and Nashville
Panettiere’s death was announced Sunday by her father, Skip Panettiere, who said in a statement: ‘It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.
‘She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.’
Authorities in Greenville, South Carolina, subsequently said that officials responded to an apartment in the area after receiving a report of an ‘unresponsive female’ via a possible ‘drug overdose,’ subsequently determined to be Panettiere.
Officials, who attempted lifesaving measures prior to declaring the actress deceased, said that no signs of trauma or foul play were evident.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login