Hayden Panettiere's Abusive Boyfriend Brian Hickerson Once Said He Would Be an 'Idiot' to Rekindle Toxic Romance: 'We Wouldn’t Be Good Together'

Just three months prior to Hayden Panettiere's passing, her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, gave an interview about how he let her go throughout their on-again, off-again relationship.

The Nashville star — who died on Sunday, August 16, at the age of 36 — dated the South Carolina native sporadically from 2018 up until her death.

This past May, Hickerson, 37, opened up to TMZ about the late star's candid memoir, This Is Me: Reckoning, and how the book detailed his violent and abusive past.

Hickerson was arrested several times during their relationship, including for charges of domestic violence. He also spent 45 days in jail back in 2021 after pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend.

“She probably don’t think the same way I think that Hayden is one of the 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 bull rush in her career," Hickerson admitted earlier this year.

"We probably wouldn’t be good together. I’d like to see what she’s gonna do with the next 30 years of her career," he continued.

He then praised the Scream 4 star's book, which detailed her rocky life growing up in the limelight, as well as her personal relationships and health issues.

“Hayden’s book’s incredible,” he raved. “I think it’s great. I think everyone should read it. I mean, the domestic violence stuff my chapter, everybody should read it.”

The "Wake-Up Call" crooner also described her liaison with Hickerson in her memoir, as well as one particular incident where he was drunk and about to throw a phone at her.

“There’s a story where I was drunk, right? Hayden was standing across the room and I had a phone in my hand and I said, ‘Hayden I’ll give you 10 seconds to run as fast as you can before I throw it at you,'” he recalled of the anecdote she wrote about in her autobiography.

“Who wants to read something about themselves, right?” he continued. “But you gotta be vulnerable and I did it. I did it, so." Hickerson confessed he "misses her every day” and had thought about getting back together with her at some point.

Elsewhere in the chat, Hickerson reflected on their contentious romance, sharing he was in a "dark place" during their relationship.

“I went into such a dark place, man, drugs, alcohol,” he said. “Good God, almighty, she’s five foot two on paper, four foot 11 in real life. I mean, come on.”

Hickerson and his brother, Zach, were at the South Carolina apartment where the blonde beauty died from a suspected overdose. Zach, 38, was reportedly "emotional" while medics tried to revive the actress, however, Brian showed no emotion until she was declared dead.