Hayden Panettiere died while staying with ex-boyfriend from 'toxic' romance

On Saturday, the day before Hayden Panettiere died in Greenville, South Carolina, she reportedly flew there from Los Angeles, accompanied by her ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson, with whom she had an intense and volatile four-year relationship, marked by heavy drinking, fighting and his arrests on domestic violence charges.

Both TMZ and Page Six reported that Hickerson brought the 36-year-old film and TV actor, who struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, to stay at the loft apartment where he had been living with his brother. TMZ also said he had been staying there recently and that it was an Airbnb. But it’s not known if he was with her at the apartment on Sunday, when she suffered an apparent drug overdose and went into cardiac arrest.

An unidentified friend called 911 to report “a potential overdose,” according to audio of the call obtained by People. TMZ also reported that Narcan was found in the apartment after Panettiere was pronounced dead at the scene. Narcan is administered nasally to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and the device used to dispense it was found on a mattress in the apartment. A police spokesperson said the preliminary investigation showed no “signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

At the time of Panettiere’s death, it’s not known if the former star of “Heroes,” “Nashville” and the “Scream” franchise had resumed her romantic relationship with Hickerson, or if their relationship was platonic. The two supposedly ended their romance in 2022, according to the Daily Mail and other outlets.

As Panettiere described in her recently published memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” she and Hickerson, 37, met in the summer 2018 when she was newly single and out of rehab after making the “gut-wrenching” decision to give up custody of her 4-year-old daughter because of her ongoing struggles with addiction and postpartum depression. With her daughter living with her father, Ukrainian former world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, Panettiere moved back to Los Angeles after wrapping up six seasons on “Nashville.”

Panettiere and Hickerson met at a bar in Los Angeles, after which the aspiring actor and real estate agent from South Caroline swept her off her feet “at lightning speed.” Within weeks, they were living together and barely leaving the house — dancing in her living room, redecorating, playing board games and watching “practically every Netflix series ever made.”

“I finally began to feel beautiful again,” Panettiere wrote, praising his smile and sense of humor. “I also started to feel safe, loved and cherished. It was like Brian and I were two best friends living together under one roof.”

But then “one day,” when they were on their second bottle of wine, “everything changed,” Panettiere wrote. A conversation turned heated, she said something she regretted, he became angry and screamed at her, they tussled over a paring knife and he slapped her. That slap left her confused and “in an in-between place” because she couldn’t believe that the man she loved would hurt her.

Over time, “the slaps become hits,” Panettiere wrote. “One night he busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks,” she wrote. “Another day he screams at me to run as far as I can in five seconds because I’ll need a head start before he throws the remote control at me. This is a man who doesn’t miss, I think.”

Hickerson was arrested and charged with domestic violence for incidents in 2019 and in 2020, the Daily Mail and Page Six reported. The first case was dropped after Panettiere accepted his apology, while the second sent him to jail for 45 days after he pleaded no contest in 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

Following Hickerson’s first arrest in 2019 a Hickerson family source told Us Weekly that his family was troubled by their relationship, the Daily Mail reported.

“Brian’s family is extremely concerned for his safety when he is with Hayden,” the source told Us Weekly. “They are terrified that Brian will once again find himself accused of domestic violence. Hayden and Brian are very toxic for each other.”

According to the Daily Mail, the troubles did not end after Hickerson served time in jail — and neither did their romance. In May 2022, the two got into a fight inside the bar of the Sunset Marquis hotel in L.A., and Hickerson was photographed being restrained by a bystander, the Daily Mail said. Panettiere was reportedly overheard yelling: “Brian, jail!” — a reminder that he was still on four years’ probation. Following that incident, the two split in July 2022, seemingly for good, the Daily Mail reported.

But around the time that Panettiere’s memoir was published in May, she and Hickerson seemed to be back on friendly terms, though it’s not clear if they were dating again. In an interview with TMZ, Hickerson praised Panettiere and said her account of the violence in their relationship was true, the Daily Mail reported.

“Who wants to read something about themselves, right?” he told TMZ about reading her memoir. “But you gotta be vulnerable and I did it.”

Hickerson also said he still loved her and still hoped to marry her.

“I hope so, (but) she probably doesn’t think the same way,” Hickerson said. “I think Hayden is one of most talented people I’ve ever met in my life, and I would be an idiot not to walk away from her and let her flourish in her career.”

But when Panettiere was asked about Hickerson’s wish to marry her, she laughed and told TMZ, “I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

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