Hayden Panettiere's estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, said she gave her daughter an ultimatum over her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, during their final phone call together. Vogel made the claim in her first televised sit-down interview, which aired Monday morning on Good Morning America, days after she gave a separate interview to the Daily Mail about what she believes really happened at her daughter's death-scene Airbnb.
Vogel, 70, became emotional as she recalled telling Panettiere that they could not have a relationship if she stayed with Hickerson. "She knew that Brian was toxic," Vogel said. "She knew she had to get him out of her life."
Panettiere, who starred in Heroes and Nashville, 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. She was 36.
Mother's bombshell claims
Vogel gave a bombshell hour-long interview to the Daily Mail on Saturday, in which she made allegations about Hickerson and expressed fury at Gayle King, whom she called "shameful" for criticizing her parenting. She told GMA the ultimatum was delivered during the pair's last phone call, which took place a little less than a year ago.
"I did not by any stretch of the imagination think this was gonna happen to Hayden," Vogel said. "I don't know why. I just didn't. Maybe I didn't want to."
Vogel, who also lost her son, Jansen, at age 28 in 2023, claimed Panettiere told her she wanted to leave Hickerson for good when she stayed with her mother roughly a year ago. But Vogel said her daughter began pulling away six weeks after that visit.
Vogel said Panettiere later called to say she was back with Hickerson. "When I got the phone call from her saying 'I'm going to be with the person I love'... I just lost it," Vogel said. "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, the pair had been seen spending time together again.
Vogel responds to criticism
Vogel has faced criticism over how she has conducted herself since her daughter's death and pushed back at critics during the GMA interview. "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,'" she said.
Vogel said she is still processing her daughter's death. "It will probably hit me later on," she said. She grew tearful recalling the moment she learned of Panettiere's death, saying she felt "numb" and "couldn't feel anything."
"I still am not grasping that this is real," Vogel said. "It doesn't feel real; my mind tells me it's not at times. You know, it's going to be a process."
Investigation into her death
Panettiere was found unresponsive in the South Carolina apartment last week and was later declared dead. Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were both at the scene at the time. The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation into her death, and Greenville police and the coroner's office are running parallel probes, TMZ reported Wednesday.
The DEA's reported involvement aligns with paramedics who reported a suspected overdose over dispatch calls. First responders located Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses, inside the apartment. It remains unknown whether narcotics contributed to her death, as toxicology results are still pending.
Hickerson's history of abuse
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 in her 2026 memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning," describing the first time he allegedly became physically violent after growing enraged. "The slaps become hits," she wrote. "One night he busts up my face so badly I don't leave the house for weeks."
A music source said: "Everyone around her thought she deserved better. Nobody understood why she kept going back to him. We could see the pattern and we were terrified she couldn't see it herself."
Panettiere's career
Panettiere began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas before gaining wider recognition in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans alongside Denzel Washington and voicing Dot in Pixar's 1998 film A Bug's Life. She later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes, then starred as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville, earning two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress.
Her singing produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Her film credits include 2006's Bring It On: All or Nothing, Raising Helen, and Scream 4 and Scream VI, in which she played Kirby Reed. She had an 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, following a life-threatening birth, and later gave full custody of the child to her former fiance, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Father announces her death
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 said officials responded to the apartment after receiving a report of an "unresponsive female" via a possible "drug overdose," later determined to be Panettiere. Officials attempted lifesaving measures before declaring her deceased and said no signs of trauma or foul play were evident.
