Friends and family of Hayden Panettiere are grappling with grief and regret following her death at age 36, with many expressing fear and frustration over her long-term, on-again, off-again relationship with Brian Hickerson.
Panettiere was found unresponsive on Sunday afternoon at a luxury apartment complex loft in Greenville, South Carolina. Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were present when officers responded to a 911 call. According to a heavily redacted police report, Zach was emotional as paramedics attempted to revive Panettiere, while Brian reportedly did not show visible distress until she was declared dead. He then allegedly showed police a bag of medication Panettiere possessed.
There is no current indication that Hickerson caused or contributed to Panettiere's death, and the investigation is ongoing. However, his presence at her side as she died has been described by those close to the actress as "almost too much to bear."
"He was bad news from the beginning," one Hollywood agent told Rob Shuter. "Her friends hated him. They thought he was trouble. They thought she was better than this relationship. We kept waiting for her to see what everyone else could see."
Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, stated that Hickerson, who the family had "been trying to get rid of for quite some time," was with her daughter at the time of her death.
Sources close to Panettiere indicated that her relationship with Hickerson, which spanned nearly a decade, was marked by domestic violence allegations. In 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a girlfriend and received a sentence of 45 days in county jail, mandatory domestic violence classes, and a five-year restraining order.
Panettiere herself wrote about alleged abuse in her 2026 memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning," detailing incidents that escalated from slaps to more severe physical violence. "One night he busts up my face so badly I don't leave the house for weeks," she wrote.
Despite concerns from her inner circle, Panettiere reportedly continued to see Hickerson. "Everyone around her thought she deserved better," a music source said. "Nobody understood why she kept going back to him. We could see the pattern and we were terrified she couldn't see it herself."
Some close to the actress believed she was drawn to volatile relationships, confusing intensity with intimacy. "Hayden loved bad boys," a family source stated. "She didn't want to be abused. She didn't wanted chaos. She was drawn to toxic relationships."
Friends reportedly tried to maintain proximity to Panettiere rather than severing ties completely when Hickerson was in her life, fearing that aggressive criticism of him could alienate her further. "You wanted to save her, but you couldn't make the decision for her," a makeup artist told Shuter.
This situation has left Panettiere's loved ones replaying conversations and moments, questioning whether more intervention or different conversations could have altered the outcome. "Could another intervention, another conversation have changed the ending? We will never know," a producer reflected.