Hayden Panettiere’s Mom Lesley Vogel Breaks Down In Tears During First TV Interview Since Her Death

Hayden Panettiere’s mom is speaking out on camera. In her first TV interview since her daughter’s death at 36, Lesley Vogel choked up recalling to ABC News how she felt when she heard Hayden had passed away. “I was numb. I was just numb. I just couldn’t feel anything. I still am not grasping this is real,” she said in part. Hayden had previously opened up about how she and her mom were estranged, including detailing their complicated relationship in her 2026 memoir “This is Me: A Reckoning.” During the interview, Vogel, who had also served as Hayden’s manager until the actress was 19, commented on their relationship. “I would say Hayden had a very happy life up until she got ‘Heroes’ at 16. So here she was, the star of a major TV series. But I would say at about 17, I started seeing her going downhill as she got older. Then it wasn’t my voice anymore. I wasn’t in charge of her choices,” she claimed. Vogel additionally disputed her daughter’s version of events when Hayden recalled in her memoir that Vogel said “You owe me” when Hayden told her she didn’t want her to manage her anymore. “I remember being in her trailer and literally saying nothing… I know I didn’t say what she said I said,” Vogel shared. Vogel also weighed in on the estrangement from her daughter, claiming that it was because Hayden had reconnected with on-and-off abusive boyfriend Brian Hickerson, who was with Hayden at the time of her death, and ultimately gave her daughter an ultimatum at the advice of her therapist.