Hayden Panettiere’s mom is insisting she had nothing but love for her late daughter.
Days after theHeroesstardied in South Carolina on Aug. 16 at the age of 36, her motherLesleyVogeladdressed their estrangement.
“Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love,” Vogel said in an Aug. 20 statement toEntertainment Tonight. “It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual.”
“Hayden was a beautiful and talented young woman who unfortunately became involved with the wrong person,” she added, “and although her family tried to extricate him from her life, we were unable to be successful.”
Vogel also noted that narcotics investigators had joined the investigation, saying, “It leads me to believe there are still questions surrounding what happened. And I think we are all looking for answers.”
Although Vogel did not specify who she was referring to as “the wrong person,”she had previously claimedPanettiere’s family was trying to removeher boyfriendBrian Hickersonfrom her life.
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Hayden Panettiere’s Death: What We Know About Her Final Hours and Ongoing Investigation
“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death,” she toldNBC Newson Aug. 18, “and that was Brian Hickerson.”
“I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments,” the 70-year-old continued, “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.”
E! News has reached out to Hickerson’s attorney for comment on the allegations, but hasn’t heard back. In a statement toTMZAug. 20, his lawyer emphasized the importance of allowing the investigation to proceed, saying in part, “As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play.”
Her cause of death has not been determined, though authorities said she appeared to be suffering from an overdose and cardiac arrest at an apartment complex where Hickerson was present.
Prior to her death, Panettiere—who shared 11-year-old daughterKayawith exWladimir Klitschko—had been candid about her difficult relationship with her mother, who had served as her manager from her early acting days until she was 19. And as she recalled in her May memoirThis Is Me: A Reckoning, it was an emotional moment when she finally told Vogel she didn’t want her as her manager anymore.
“All I wanted was to discover what it was like to have a ‘normal’ mother–daughter relationship,” she wrote, “and that dynamic didn’t involve contracts, producers, boho tops, or drinking wine at industry parties.”
But when she shared that decision with Vogel, Panettiere said that her mom “picked up her purse, clenched her jaw, and looked straight at me. ‘You owe me,’ she answered.”
TheNashvillestar had also discussed the relationship with her friends, including actressRuby Rose, who shared a screenshot from a conversation she’d had with Panettiere regarding Vogel.
“I was sobbing over her cruelty yesterday thinking, my god I’m 36 and she can still cause this kind of pain,” Panettiere wrote, according to a screenshot of a text Rose posted toThreadsAug. 19. “I’m her only child left and this is how she wants to handle the situation?!”
Shortly after the release of Panettiere’s memoir, Vogel had responded to her daughter’s claims in the book, saying she believed “the present drama is partially to sell books.”
“After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route,” she toldPage Sixin May. “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!”
She added, “Sadly, this is out of our control. You cannot save someone who does not want to be saved.”
For more from Panettiere’s life in the spotlight, keep reading.
