HAYDEN Panettiere’s estranged mother has broken her silence after the actress’s sudden death at 36.
The Nashville star was found dead in a South Carolina apartment on Sunday afternoon from a suspected overdose.
Lesley Vogel spoke out about her daughter’s death and Hayden’s rekindled relationship with her ex, Brian Hickerson, who was reportedly at the scene when she 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,” Lesley told NBC News on Tuesday.
“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,” she added.
Lesley also told the outlet, “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.”
“I just feel that she’s with her brother and they’re at peace,” she said, speaking of Hayden’s younger brother Jansen, who died at 28 in February 2023 from an enlarged heart and aortic valve complications.
Hayden confirmed in May that she had not been in contact with her mother for some time.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now,” the Heroes star told Us Weekly while promoting the release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.
“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day. It’s hard for me to say, but I’ve chosen to be brutally honest.”
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Hayden also discussed her difficult relationship with her mother during a sit-down with Jay Shetty on his podcast.
“Everything was business,” the former child star said earlier this year.
“I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.
“I said to her, ’I don’t want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom.’
“I remember being hopeful. But I also wasn’t expecting the reaction that I got, which was, ‘You owe me.’ And that’s all she said. And she walked out.”
Lesley previously addressed the estrangement, claiming it was her choice to distance herself from her daughter.
“After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route,” Lesley told Page Six after the release of Hayden’s memoir.
“As many parents of entertainment children [know], we are all too familiar with the painful observation of watching the self-destructive paths they sometimes choose.
“No parent hopes for this scenario; we want our children to be the best of themselves and live a peaceful, joyful life!”
Hayden had been spending more time with her off-again, on-again boyfriend, Brian, who was reportedly staying with her at the time of her death.
According to TMZ, the couple were back together but hiding their romance since Hayden’s team found their relationship “bad for business.”
Hayden had opened up about their previous split in her memoir and her other struggles, like addiction, grieving her brother’s unexpected death, as well as her severe postpartum depression.
The Remember the Titans star’s mental health battles led to her giving custody of her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, to her ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.
Hayden reportedly planned to reunite with Kaya, who lives with her father in Ukraine, before her tragic death.