Hayden Panettiere's mother says the actress' ex pawned her belongings before she died
Hayden Panettiere’s ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson pawned some of the actress’ possessions before her death, according to her mother Lesley Vogel.
Vogel told The New York Times that she was alarmed after learning that Hickerson, who filed for bankruptcy in 2022, had pawned some of Panettiere’s belongings. She said her daughter was also shocked to discover that some of her stuff had been kept in Hickerson’s storage unit.
The Times reported that another person, who was granted anonymity to speak about the matter, confirmed Vogel's claim.
Panettiere and Hickerson had an on-and-off relationship that was marked by allegations of domestic abuse. The actress detailed the violence in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.
According to NBC News, Hickerson was arrested on domestic violence charges in 2020. He later pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring Panettiere and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, several years of probation, and domestic violence classes.
He was also found to have violated his probation conditions in 2022 after he and Panettiere were filmed involved in a physical altercation with other patrons outside a hotel in West Hollywood, California. He was subsequently ordered to attend weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
By the time Panettiere began her memoir tour in May, however, she had private security with instructions to keep Hickerson away from her events. Two people with direct knowledge of the tour told the Times that the Barnes & Noble in Manhattan hosting one of her events had been instructed not to let him in.
“I needed an incredible amount of support and backup in order to make sure that there was no way for him to find his way back in,” Panettiere said on a podcast in May.
Despite their troubled history, Hickerson was present when Panettiere was pronounced dead at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 17. Police said there were no signs of foul play, and neither Hickerson nor his brother Zach, who were listed in a police report as having called 911, have been accused of involvement in her death.
The county coroner’s office said Panettiere, 36, went into cardiac arrest. Her death is being investigated as an apparent drug overdose.
In a statement to the Times, lawyers for Hickerson said Panettiere’s death remains under investigation. They declined to comment on the accounts of Hickerson’s relationship with Panettiere.
Panettiere, who rose to fame through roles in Heroes and Nashville, had been preparing to return to acting before her death. She also planned to write a television series and visit her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, in Europe.