Gayle King has condemned Hayden Panettiere's mother Lesley Vogel after the former manager claimed her late daughter had sadly lost her way.
The television host reacted on Wednesday's episode of CBS Mornings to Vogel's first public statement following the 36-year-old actress's death in Greenville, South Carolina.
Reading a portion of Vogel's remarks on air, King expressed frustration over how the former momager addressed her daughter's passing.
"You know, guys, you read this and all I can think is, 'Thanks, Mom, for nothing,'" King said during the broadcast.
King recalled Panettiere's earlier appearance on the program, noting that the Heroes star had spoken candidly about her troubled family dynamics.
"When she was here, Vlad, she told us it was a very complicated relationship with her mom and that it was still a work in progress," King said.
"And you hear stuff like that and you realize it was still very much in progress. It makes me so sad that of the opportunity that you have after your daughter’s death, that that’s what you choose to leave us with," King added.
King's co-host Vladimir Duthiers strongly agreed with her assessment during the morning broadcast.
"I mean, Hayden Panettiere spent years publicly acknowledging her own failures, her own struggles. She did it with you in that interview," Duthiers said.
"She cannot respond now, and for her mother to use these days after Hayden’s death to just remind the world how much trauma she caused, it’s unseemly," Duthiers continued.
CBS Mornings colleague Kelly O'Grady also agreed that Vogel should have kept her public statement brief.
"If she had just stopped at, 'she was amazing and talented.' We would all agree," O'Grady said.
The Daily Mail has contacted Vogel for comment regarding the remarks made on air, but has not yet received a response.
Mother Breaks Silence Following Daughter's Death
Vogel broke her silence on her daughter's shock death in an interview with NBC News.
"I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry," Vogel said, "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," Vogel added.
Vogel also said she last spoke to her daughter in October, and noted they had been "texting a bit since then, but not in some time."
"No-contact was a choice I made for very specific reasons and, you know, certainly not for lack of care, concern, love," Vogel added.
Estrangement and Memoir Revelations
Throughout the actress's life, the two maintained a strained relationship, with Panettiere revealing three months before her death that they were not in touch.
Panettiere previously detailed the difficulties of having her mother double as her manager, stating in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, that she got "brutally honest" about her mother pushing her too hard.
"I was so scared of her that approaching her and being honest about my feelings [back then] was not going to get me any positive reaction. This is my way of doing it," Panettiere told Us Weekly in May.
A secret romance involving Panettiere and the brother of her boyfriend Brian Hickerson was also previously revealed.
Authorities Investigate Suspected Overdose
Panettiere died Sunday at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, after emergency responders found her unresponsive following a suspected drug overdose that resulted in cardiac arrest.
Emergency responders attempted lifesaving measures prior to declaring the actress deceased at the scene.
Authorities in Greenville said that no signs of trauma or foul play were evident in their initial probe into Panettiere's death, which remains ongoing.
The star's father, Skip Panettiere, announced her passing on Sunday in a statement issued on behalf of the family.
"It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden," Skip Panettiere said. "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," he added.
Career Accomplishments and Screen Legacy
Panettiere began acting as a child, appearing in daytime soap operas before gaining wider recognition for her roles in film and television.
She starred alongside Denzel Washington in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans and voiced the character Dot in Pixar's 1998 animated movie A Bug's Life.
Panettiere later achieved fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama series Heroes before starring as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville.
Her role on Nashville earned her two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress, while her singing performances produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.
Her film credits include the 2006 comedy Bring It On: All or Nothing, the comedy-drama Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.
Panettiere had an 11-year-old daughter named Kaya following a life-threatening birth. She later gave full custody of her daughter to her former fiancé, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
