In a tell-all interview, Hayden Panettiere‘s estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, broke down her daughter’s relationship with Brian Hickerson in the months leading up to her death.
“She knew that Brian was toxic,” Vogel, 70, said on the Monday, August 24, episode of Good Morning America. “She knew she had to get him out of her life.”
Vogel flew out to be with her daughter one year before her death, staying for six weeks before learning that Panettiere had reconciled with Hickerson again.
“When I got the phone call from her saying, ‘I’m going to be with the person I love.’ … I just lost it,” Vogel recalled. “I could not believe that she had gone that far back, that he had been successful in reeling her back in, with all of the things he had done to her.”
Taking the advice of her therapist, Vogel gave Panettiere an ultimatum about her relationship with Hickerson, telling her daughter she wouldn’t speak to her if Hickerson was still in her life.
“I needed it. I needed to have that pocket of time,” she continued on Monday, reflecting on her estrangement from Panettiere. “I did not by any stretch of the imagination think that this was going to happen to Hayden. … Maybe I didn’t want to.”
The actress started dating Hickerson in 2018. He was arrested for domestic violence that same year after an alleged argument with Panettiere. (Hickerson was charged with felony domestic violence, which resulted in a prosecutor-requested protective order. The charges were dropped the following year.)
Hickerson was arrested again in 2020 after allegedly punching Panettiere in the face. At the time, Hickerson served roughly 33 days in county jail and was also placed on four years of probation and required to pay a $500 fine.
The pair’s tumultuous relationship was on and off. A source recently told Us that Panettiere “had a very hard time cutting Brian out of her life,” noting that she and Hickerson “pretty much always remained in contact” even while broken up.
Panettiere, for her part, opened up to Us about the challenges she faced in her relationship with Hickerson just months before her death.
“Getting an abusive person out of your life is like trying to rip a weed out that is so entangled into your life,” she said in her May cover story. “Every time you pull it out, another weed pops back up and you’re like, ‘I thought I killed this.’ They always manage to find a way to slither back into your life, even if you’re an incredibly strong-willed person.”
Panettiere also referenced her estrangement from Vogel at the time, adding, “Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now. 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.”
Panettiere died on August 16 at age 36 after traveling to South Carolina with Hickerson. In dispatch audio obtained by People, authorities were heard discussing an “overdose” and “cardiac arrest” around the time of Panettiere’s death.
Hickerson broke his silence on Panettiere’s death on Thursday, August 20, in a statement shared via his attorney Sloan Ellis.
“Hayden’s death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,” Ellis told Us. “As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”
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