Hayden Panettiere detailed traumatic experience with 'very famous' British star before her death
Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual harassment which some readers may find distressing.
Hayden Panettiere was led to the bed of a naked older man by someone she trusted as a 'protector' when she was aged just 18.
Speaking just months before she was found dead aged 36 in South Carolina on August 16, award-winning actor Panettiere released a memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she gave stark insight into the world of child stardom and her struggles with addiction, depression and trauma.
One of the most harrowing stories she candidly shared was how, when still a teenager, she was on a boat and led by a close friend to the bedroom of a 'very famous' British man where she was expected to perform sexual acts.
Advert
Discussing the traumatic experience on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast in May, Panettiere said: "It was... that moment shook me. Was shocking.
"I had been having a great time. There was no hints of anything like that happening, so it took me... I was shocked. It took me by surprise.
"It was led by somebody that I had grown to trust, see as a protector. Somebody who had my back.
"To be walked down the stairs, it was presented as though it was like a surprise. It was this really small room.
"She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous and had his hands like this," at this point, the Scream 4 star rested her hands on the top of her head.
"Like this was an average day for him," she continued. "This is something that happens all the time."
Hayden Panettiere sprung into action
To make matters even worse, the boat was out to sea at this stage and there was literally nowhere for her to go.
Yet, Panettiere refused to go along with what was clearly expected of her.
"That lion in me, that fire in me. My hair stood on end and I became ferocious. This is not happening," she said.
"But I had nowhere to hide.
"I bolted and I hid wherever I could think of to hide on a boat... There was no jumping off and swimming away.
"There was nobody, I realised, who was going to be empathetic to my situation. This was nothing new to them."
Panettiere felt betrayed by someone she had grown to trust
Appearing in her first acting role in an advert before even hitting her first birthday, Panettiere was a bona fide child star, having starred in the likes of Racing Stripes, Malcolm in the Middle and Heroes, yet that fame did not prevent her from being taken advantage of.
Even by someone she thought had her best interests at heart.
She said: "Disappointing, when somebody lets you down like that. I had been let down so much before, when you really find somebody that you trust, you hold on to them for dear life and you feel so lucky.
"To be betrayed like that, is just an awful feeling."
Police were called to an incident in Greenville at around 1.50pm on Sunday.
A statement from the Greenville Police Department said: "[Officers] accompanied by EMS personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female at around 1:50 p.m. Sunday.
"Upon arrival, medical assistance was administered; however, the individual, later identified as Hayden Panettiere, was pronounced deceased at the scene.
"The case is under investigation by the Greenville Police Department in conjunction with the Greenville County Coroner's Office. The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. An acquaintance of Ms. Panettiere placed the 911 call."
A timeline of Hayden Panettiere’s troubled Hollywood career
August 1989
Hayden Panettiere is born to firefighter Skip Panettiere and Lesley Vogel, who would go on to be Hayden’s manager.
1990
Panettiere appears in a commercial at 11 months old, later landing recurring roles in soap operas as a child actor.
2004/2005
Aged 15, Panettiere said someone on her team started offering her ‘happy pills’. She later tells People: “They were to make me peppy during interviews.
"I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction.”
2006
Aged 17, Panettiere lands one of the defining roles of her career as Claire Bennett in Heroes.
2007-2009
Panettiere later reveals several disturbing incidents that happened during this period in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Aged 18, she claims she was led onto a yacht by ‘somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector’ and placed into bed next to an ‘undressed man who was very famous’.
In 2008, she alleged a network executive kissed her on the lips at a party.
Aged 19, she said a ‘well-respected, award-winning actor’ tricked her into looking at his testicles through an unzipped fly.
In 2007, she also starts dating Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia - she is 18 and he is 30. They split in 2009.
2009
Panettiere starts dating Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Meanwhile, her father Skip is handed two years of informal probation after pleading ‘no contest’ to spousal battery.
2013
Panettiere and Klitschko get engaged.
December 2014
Panettiere and Klitschko’s daughter Kaya is born. Panettiere endures an incredibly difficult pregnancy, haemorrhaging during her c-section and being forced to undergo a three-hour surgery.
2015
Panettiere begins suffering severe post-partum depression. She later tells Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast: “I knew something was terribly, terribly wrong. I wasn't connecting with [Kaya] the way I should be.”
She uses alcohol to manage her mental health struggles and enters treatment when Kaya is four months old.
She later says she became dependent on medication to sleep, and then turned to drinking vodka.
2018
Klitschko presents Panettiere with custody papers asking for full custody of Kaya. After initially fighting back, she eventually accepts and Kaya goes to live with Klitschko in Ukraine.
She writes in her memoir: “Not being under the same roof with her every day has been the most gut-wrenching experience of my life”
Meanwhile, her long-running role in TV show Nashville comes to an end and she doesn’t have any more TV or film roles for five years.
In the same year, she starts dating actor Brian Hickerson.
2020
Panettiere spends an eight month stint in rehab.
She experiences brutal alcohol withdrawal symptoms including insomnia and intense headaches.
Meanwhile, her now-ex Hickerson is charged with felony assault.
2021
Hickerson pleads no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse/cohabitant/girlfriend/child's parent and is sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years probation.
2023
Panettiere returns to acting, reprising her role as Kirby Reed in Scream VI.
In the same year, her brother Jansen dies aged 28 from an enlarged heart.
May 2026
Panettiere releases her memoir in which she makes disturbing allegations against film stars and industry execs from when she was a teenager.
She also opens up on her experience of postpartum depression and comes out as bisexual.
August 2026
Panettiere tragically dies. Police say: “The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
Daniel Murphy