Hayden Panettiere’s mother has spoken publicly for the first time since the actress was found unresponsive at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina. The Nashville alum died at the age of 36, and her mother, Lesley Vogel, said she was numb and still struggling to accept the loss. Vogel said she wanted people to remember her daughter as talented, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent, and full of life. The tragedy was made more painful by the fact that the two had been estranged at the time of Hayden’s death.
Months earlier, Hayden had spoken openly about her complicated relationship with her mother. During a May 2026 appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, she explained that she had spent years hoping the relationship could become healthier. She said she had repeatedly tried to keep the door open, but eventually reached the painful conclusion that a healthy mother-daughter relationship was not going to happen. Vogel later explained that their final estrangement began after she stayed with Hayden for roughly six weeks while her daughter was trying to leave her boyfriend, Ryan Hickerson.
According to Vogel, she noticed Hayden pulling away, returned to Florida, and when Hayden told her she intended to remain with Hickerson, Vogel gave her daughter an ultimatum: she could not stay in Hayden’s life if Hickerson was going to be part of it. Vogel said she never expected the separation to become permanent, believing the no-contact period would only last a short time. But that time never came. The circumstances surrounding Hayden’s death remain under investigation.
Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were reportedly at the apartment when Hayden was found unresponsive. According to the police report, emergency medical workers continued life-saving efforts for an extended period before Hayden was pronounced dead at 2:31 p. m. An officer reported that there did not appear to be an obvious physical reason for Hayden’s condition.
At the time, it was also unknown whether substances or alcohol had played any role. Hickerson reportedly showed officers a bag containing medication that he said Hayden was taking. Through his attorney, Hickerson said Hayden’s death remained under investigation and pointed out that police had found no signs of foul play. His attorney declined further comment out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation.
The Greenville City Police Department was leading the investigation with federal authorities assisting. No official cause or manner of death had been announced at the time. In the months before her death, Hayden had expressed hope about her future. During a cover interview, she described herself as a work in progress, taking life one day at a time.
She told fans they were stronger than they knew and would be just fine. She also revealed that people had told her her stories about mental health had inspired them to seek help. She hoped to leave the world better than she found it. Hayden said she felt she had shaken off the darkness and negativity, and that she still had a lot more life to live.
Hayden was born August 21, 1989, in Palisades, New York, to Lesley Vogel, a former daytime soap actress, and Alan “Skip” Panettiere, a New York City firefighter. She appeared on screen at just 11 months old in a commercial, and by age five had appeared in more than 50 commercials. Her early career included roles on One Life to Live and Guiding Light, where her character battled leukemia. The storyline became so meaningful that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society honored Hayden with a special recognition award for helping raise awareness about the disease.
She made her feature film debut voicing Princess Dot in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life in 1998. She went on to appear in Remember the Titans, which earned her a Young Artist Award, and voiced roles in Dinosaur and the Kingdom Hearts video game series. Her breakthrough came as Claire Bennet in Heroes, making her an internationally recognized young star. She later appeared in Scream 4 and returned to the franchise as Kirby Reed in Scream 6, which marked her first on-screen film appearance since 2018 following a lengthy career hiatus.
In March 2012, she was cast opposite Connie Britton in ABC’s musical drama Nashville, where she played the ambitious country singer Juliette Barnes. She recorded numerous songs for the series and performed at concerts connected to the show’s promotional tours. Hayden also used her platform for activism. In 2007, she traveled to Taiji, Japan, where she confronted Japanese fishermen during the annual dolphin hunt.
Footage from the incident later appeared in the Sundance documentary The Cove. She became an official supporter of Ronald McDonald House Charities, supported voting rights for Washington, D. C. , and served as a teen ambassador for the Candie’s Foundation, an organization focused on preventing teen pregnancy.
About two weeks before her reported death, Hayden participated in a PETA advertising campaign opposing the captivity of marine mammals in marine parks. Hayden’s personal life was closely followed. In December 2007, when she was 18, she began dating her Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia, who was 30 at the time. The relationship ended in February 2009.
Later that year, she met Ukrainian heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko. They dated, separated in May 2011, rekindled their romance in April 2013, and became engaged by October. In December 2014, Hayden gave birth to their daughter. Behind the scenes, Hayden was struggling with postpartum depression and addiction.
In August 2018, her mother confirmed that Hayden and Klitschko had separated again. During that difficult period, Hayden relinquished full custody of her daughter to Klitschko in 2018 while focusing on her recovery. She later described the decision as heartbreaking but necessary, and maintained a positive co-parenting relationship. Hayden and Hickerson began an on-and-off relationship in 2018.
In 2019, Hickerson was arrested following an alleged confrontation involving Hayden, although that case was later dismissed. The situation escalated in 2020 when Hickerson was arrested twice on domestic violence-related charges. In 2021, he pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend and was sentenced to 45 days in jail. Hayden had also been open about her struggles with addiction.
She began misusing alcohol and prescription opiates as a teenager, and by age 16, she said personal assistants were giving her what she described as happy pills before awards shows and interviews. By her 20s, alcohol and opiates had become a way for her to escape feelings of depression and anxiety. She reached a point where she would drink first thing in the morning because she was afraid of experiencing delirium tremens, a dangerous form of alcohol withdrawal. In 2015, Hayden completed an alcohol rehabilitation program, but she eventually relapsed.
In 2020, she entered an eight-month substance and alcohol rehabilitation program after developing jaundice linked to alcohol-induced liver damage. Before she entered treatment, doctors reportedly warned her that she could die within five years if she continued drinking. Hayden also spoke openly about her experience with postpartum depression after giving birth in 2014. In a 2015 appearance on Live with Kelly and Michael, she described postpartum depression as frightening and something people needed to talk about.
In May 2026, Hayden released her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she came out as bisexual and revealed that she had dated women. Her final message to fans was one of hope. She wanted everything she had gone through to mean something and to show others that getting through difficult times was possible.
