Hayden Panettiere‘s mom, Lesley Vogel, opened up about the sudden deaths of her two children in an emotional sit-down interview.
“It’s a process. And I think it will probably hit me later on,” she told ABC News reporter Rhiannon Ally on the Monday, August 24, episode of Good Morning America.
The interview aired eight days after news broke of the actress’ death at the age of 36. Hayden’s brother, Jansen Panettiere, previously died in 2023 at the age of 28.
“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,” Vogel, 70, said during Monday’s interview. “That’s my domain.”
Vogel choked up as she recalled the moment she learned about Hayden’s death. “I was numb. I was just numb,” she admitted. “I just couldn’t feel anything. I still [am] not grasping this is real. It doesn’t feel real. My mind tells me it’s not at times. It’s going to be a process.”
When asked how she moves forward after losing her two children, Vogel was once again overcome with emotion. “I think you just have to find that inner strength,” she said. “I have been knocked down throughout my life and I’m not complaining, because I have the strength to get back up. … It’s how we get back up that defines who we are.”
Vogel, who was estranged from the Heroes alum prior to her death, also told the outlet how she hoped her daughter would be remembered.
“I want Hayden to be remembered for the talented, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent woman she really was,” she said. “But I also want people to understand that it is my belief that she was suffering. Now, that doesn’t make sense. Because when you look at a beautiful career who’s got an incredible career, even though it had its ups and downs, but you look at that big picture and you go, ‘Why would you be suffering?’ People don’t understand that you can have all of this, but that doesn’t mean that’s what’s going on [inside] matches.”
She noted that Hayden “had a very happy life” until she was cast as Claire Bennett on 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,” Vogel claimed. “As she got older, it wasn’t my voice anymore. I wasn’t in charge of her choices. I tried to give her the best advice I could. But again, you know, any young person, teen, they want to be liberated. And I get that. I did get that.”
Vogel previously opened up to The New York Times about spending time with Hayden one year prior in Los Angeles. “She was in pain,” she told the outlet. “She was afraid. She couldn’t physically function properly.”
Following news of Hayden’s death, Gayle King publicly criticized Vogel’s public statement the loss, which claimed her daughter had “lost her way” amid not staying “true to herself.” Vogel reacted while speaking to the Daily Mail on Saturday, August 22.
The mom, who served as Hayden’s manager when she was a child actor and model, told the outlet that she was “very, very hurt and deeply disappointed” about the criticism’s “lack of professionalism” and compassion. “No one reached out to me before. It’s shameful. It’s unconscionable to me,” Vogel told the outlet on Saturday.
Hadyen’s father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed his daughter’s death in a statement to Us on August 16 after she was found unresponsive in a South Carolina apartment. The late star is survived by her parents and her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, whom she shared with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.
A cause of death has not been confirmed, however, an autopsy showed “no signs of trauma” contributed to her passing. A local police report claimed that Hayden’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were both in attendance at the scene of her death.
Brian’s attorney told Us in a statement that there were “no signs of foul play” amid an ongoing investigation into Panettiere’s death. Zach later told TMZ that he and Brian had attempted to save Hayden’s life.
“When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious,” Zach alleged to the outlet on Friday, August 21. “I immediately called 911, and Brian gave her Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until Fire and EMS arrived. At that point, we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life.”
Narcan is a nasal spray “designed to rapidly reverse the effects of a life-threatening opioid emergency,” according to the brand’s website.
If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
