Hayden Panettiere’s mom, Lesley Vogel, releases new statement after backlash

Raechal ShewfeltThu, August 20, 2026 at 11:14 PM UTC

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Hayden Panettiere and mother Lesley Vogel in 2009 in Sydney, AustraliaCredit: Peter Carrette Archive/GettyKey Points -

Hayden Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, has released a new statement about the death of her daughter.

She noted that their estrangement is “not for lack of care or love.”

Initially, Vogel said Panettiere had taken “the wrong path.”

Hayden Panettiere’s mom, Lesley Vogel, is attempting to explain her complicated relationship with her daughter.

“Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love,” Vogel told ET in a statement published Thursday. “It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death.”

She continued, “Hayden was a beautiful and talented young woman who unfortunately became involved with the wrong person, and although her family tried to extricate him from her life, we were unable to be successful.”

Vogel did not mention his name, but she had previously accused Panettiere’s on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson of being involved with her death. In 2021, Hickerson pleaded notcontest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse/cohabitant/coparent and spent time behind bars. His attorney has pointed out that police found no signs of foul play and that an investigation into her death is ongoing.

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“I hope all remember Hayden for the beautiful human being inside her and her gift to the world from her time on this earth,” Vogel wrote. “My heart is with you, Hayden. Mama.”

A day after Panettiere’s death Aug. 16, Vogel made her initial comments, which have been criticized.

“I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments 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,” Vogel told NBC News in her first public comments since her daughter’s death.

“People, they feel pushed into things, even the managers and agents want to control them, and I think it becomes very difficult to be true to yourself, and I think Hayden sadly lost her way and I wish it were different,” she added.

At the time, Vogel, who served as Panettiere’s manager until the Remember the Titans star was an adult, said circumstances led her “to believe there are still questions surrounding what happened.”

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Her initial statement drew backlash from actress Holly Robinson Peete, for one.

Peete noted, “There were so many things she could have said to show us that she was a caring, mother.”

“We know this young lady clearly had so many issues, but if you’re not gonna take accountability for the fact that you put her in the business that eventually messed her up then nothing you say has any integrity,” Peete wrote on social media. “She didn’t even say ‘I will miss my daughter’ or ‘I loved my daughter the best way I could. Has she even mentioned the word daughter?”

Panettiere had infamously written about her relationship with Vogel, how she felt constant pressure to perform well at auditions, for one thing, in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was published in May.

Hayden Panettiere in Hollywood in 2022Credit: Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Vogel slammed Panettiere’s account of her parenting.

“There is a personality ‘style’ which manifests as a need for control, entitlement, and a lack of empathy,” Vogel told Page Six. “The major fear is that someone will see through the mask they present to the world and discover who they truthfully are.”

She said that she was the one who decided not to have a relationship with her daughter.

“After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route. 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!”

Vogel’s new statement elicited comments including “stop with these posts,” “who needs enemies when you have a mother like that,” and “sit down.”

on Entertainment Weekly

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