Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, has fired back following backlash from her comments made following her daughter’s death.
In a sit-down ABC exclusive interview with Good Morning America, which aired on Monday, August 24, Vogel said, “I would say to the haters out there, you don’t have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child. That’s my domain.”
Panettiere spoke publicly about her estranged relationship with her mother in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, released in May. In her memoir, she recalls telling her then manager, Vogel, that she no longer wanted to be managed by her, to which Vogel responded, “You owe me.”
Vogel told ABC, “I remember being in her trailer and literally saying nothing. I was — I knew that day would come. It’s not that I didn’t expect it, but it was a very short, very brief conversation, and then she turned and went to set. But did it hurt to read that in the book? You know, it just — I know I didn’t say what she said.”
Vogel’s behavior following Panettiere’s death has been a topic of debate. Stating the 36-year-old actress had “lost her way,” many people, including CBS Mornings co-anchor Gayle King, thought the message felt cold.
Vogel described her reaction to hearing the news to ABC, saying she felt “numb.” “I still am not grasping this is real. It just doesn’t, it doesn’t feel real,” she said. “My mind tells me it’s not at times. You know, it’s going to be a process.”
This is not the first time Vogel has dealt with the loss of a child. In 2023, she and Skip Panettiere, Hayden’s father, lost their son Jansen to an enlarged heart and aortic valve complications.
Panettiere, best known for her roles in Heroes, Ice Princess, Nashville, Scream 4, and Bring It On: All or Nothing, was found unresponsive on August 16 at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, after medics responded to a 911 call from her boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zach. An incident report states that EMS continued life-saving efforts “for an extended amount of time” before declaring Panettiere dead at 2:31 p.m.
The DEA joined the investigation on Wednesday. However, a spokesperson for the Greenville Police Department has stated that “the preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”
The official cause of Panettiere’s death remains under investigation.
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