The sudden death of Hayden Panettiere has sparked intense speculation about her abusive ex-boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, who broke his silence for the first time on Thursday.
Panettiere was found dead from a suspected overdose at the age of 36 on Sunday, just a day after she arrived at Hickerson’s home state of South Carolina. Hickerson, 37, and his brother Zach were in the luxury loft where Panettiere was found unresponsive. Hickerson had been arrested multiple times for assaulting the actress over the course of their relationship.
Police reportedly visited Hickerson’s home on Wednesday as the investigation into Panettiere’s death unfolds. On Thursday, Hickerson, a realtor, urged the public not to jump to conclusions about what happened.
“Hayden’s death remains under investigation, and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,” Hickerson told TMZ through his lawyer. “As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”
Panettiere detailed the abuse she suffered from Hickerson after the couple became romantically involved in 2018 in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning.
“The slaps become hits,” she wrote in a chapter dedicated to the ordeal, until he “busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks.”
Hickerson has not denied her account and said “everybody should read” the chapter recounting his abuse in previous direct comments to TMZ.
He pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend following one of his attacks on the star in 2021. He was sentenced to 45 days in county jail (of which he ultimately served 33), four years of formal probation, a five-year restraining order, and mandatory classes for two incidents pertaining to Panettiere between May 2019 and February 2020.
Still, Panettiere had traveled with and was staying with Hickerson at the time of her death. A source told Page Six that the actress’ friends were “in the dark” about her having rekindled the relationship. The Heroes star told People in 2022 that she and Hickerson were friends, saying, “He’s gone to treatment and done his time. And I’m trying to live in a place of forgiveness.”
Hickerson, whose behavior towards the star was allegedly so concerning that her neighbors banned him from her West Hollywood apartment complex, has won less leeway with the public, which resurfaced an online comment he made just weeks before Panettiere’s passing that appears to show him bragging about his violence against women.
“Yes, it’s wonderful. If she gets out of line I just Google myself and say hey stop it this is what I’m allegedly capable of,” he wrote to an Instagram user who asked, according to Page Six, “Some woman dates [sic] you???”
The comment has since been deleted.
