Inside Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson's Relationship After Their Reported Reconciliation and What His Family Has Said

Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson's relationship had its ups and downs.

Panettiere and Hickerson, who were believed to have rekindled their romance before her death, had a turbulent, on-and-off relationship that was marked by multiple arrests and allegations of domestic violence. Despite their 2022 split, the two fueled reconciliation rumors as they were occasionally seen together, including traveling together on August 15 and being together when Panettiere was found unresponsive and pronounced dead at an apartment in Greenville, S.C., the following day.

In the wake of Panettiere's death, her complicated relationship and troubled history with Hickerson once again drew public attention.

One source told Us Weekly the Nashville actress' friends were "worried" after she reconnected with Hickerson.

"Especially because she started spending time with Brian again," the insider added.

The insider said Panettiere's loved ones remembered how the relationship had previously "led her down a dark path," leaving her friends and inner circle "worried for her" and hoping she was "doing OK."

A separate source claimed Panettiere kept her reunion with Hickerson from even her closest friends because "she wasn't speaking about it with many of her friends."

"If you've gone through some dark times with people, and spoken about it, then there can be shame if you get back together with that same person," the source added. "So maybe that was why she hadn't mentioned it to us."

Following Panettiere's death, the former child star's estranged mother, Lesley Vogel, issued a statement in which she revealed the family had been trying to get rid of Hickerson "for quite some time."

"I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry — it is a struggle and it's a very challenging industry and it's not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path," she added to NBC News.

West Hollywood resident Mia Terrazzas, who reportedly lived near Panettiere, told Inside Edition on August 19 she called 911 several times after seeing "disturbances" at the Heroes alum's apartment.

"This predator was in our community. He never stopped living at her place. There were times he ripped apart her bathroom, where he just took a sledgehammer at 5 in the morning," she shared.

When asked about possible domestic violence in the home, Terrazzas recalled seeing Panettiere taken away on a gurney "I think twice," adding that she "appeared to be injured."

Her account echoed Griff Furst's statement about Panettiere seeming "not okay" while filming A Breed Apart with Hickerson nearby.

"He opened the door. Hayden was incredibly sweet and gracious and excited to work, but she was not okay," he recalled in an August 17 Instagram video. "I'm not going to get into the details of why that was. But having worked on over 100 movies and seeing just about everything, it was pretty clear that she wasn't okay and the energy in her room was pretty dark."

The director said he believed Panettiere had been doing better in recent years and revealed they had discussed working together again, making her death "hit even harder."

"I see all these tributes online about the light that Hayden was and she really was incredible, she was a force to be reckoned with, When we did this movie, that was definitely still in there, but there was something else in there too that made it a lot harder to reach," he added.

Additionally, a source claimed Hickerson was with Panettiere at the time of her death and had "inserted himself into her life and was surveilling her."

"All was well up until a week ago when she went kind of silent, and then she passed away," the source explained. "She had a lot to live for. She had plans to go on a girls' trip. She was going to see her daughter in Europe. But [in] the last week, things had changed and Brian had inserted himself into her life."

In an episode of her podcast, Megyn Kelly fueled speculation that Hickerson may have enabled Panettiere's alleged substance abuse.

"You are an idiot. It's obvious what a dolt you are," she said of Hickerson, calling him an "absolute fool." "It's egregious how dumb this man sounds. That she was spending any portion of her life with him because she was smart."

Narcan was reportedly found at the scene where the former child star was found unresponsive and pronounced dead, with Zach Hickerson confirming his brother "gave her Narcan."

"There are a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations currently swirling," he told the outlet. "The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth."

Zach reportedly discovered Hayden unresponsive while Brian was asleep in another room.

Another source told Rob Shuter's Substack page the real estate agent "wasn't casually talking about someday becoming a father" as "he was pushing Hayden to have a baby with him."

"She understood exactly what another pregnancy could potentially mean for her emotionally, and she wasn't convinced it was something she wanted to risk," said the insider.

Concerns surrounding the couple also extended to questions about Brian's finances, according to the insider.

"Brian was struggling financially, so people absolutely questioned his motives," the source claimed. "A baby wouldn't just make them parents — it would connect him to Hayden for the rest of his life. That raised alarm bells."

However, Hayden's previous experience with pregnancy and postpartum depression reportedly made the decision especially difficult for her.

Since Hayden's death, her estranged mom, Lesley Vogel, has been vocal about her and her relationship with Brian.

On August 22, the talent manager told the Daily Mail the duo's bond "was much more powerful than people realize."

"When Brian came into her life, the changes started to occur," she claimed. "Very early in the game, I thought he's a modern-day gigolo. I know what he's after."

Drugs also reportedly became an increasingly significant part of their lives as Hayden and Brian's relationship became more turbulent.

"I would talk to both of them about it," Lesley recalled. "I would say, 'This is a codependent relationship, and it is not healthy for either of you.'"

The matriarch continued, "My sadness is that everything that I did, her father [Skip] did, friends did, business people did — we could not break that codependent bond. It is so much more powerful than people understand."

She also alleged in a New York Times interview published on August 23 that Brian previously pawned Hayden's personal belongings while her daughter was "afraid," "in pain" and "could not physically function properly." She added she was "shocked" after finding more of Hayden's possessions in a storage unit linked to Brian, while another source claimed he had sold several of her belongings.

Following the alleged incidents of abuse, Lesley told Good Morning America Hayden knew Brian was "toxic" and "had to get him out of her life." She believed progress was being made until she returned home and learned her daughter had reconciled with her on-again, off-again boyfriend.

"When I got the phone call from her saying, 'I'm going to be with the person I love.'... I just lost it," Lesley admitted. "I could not believe that she had gone that far back, that he had been successful in reeling her back in, with all of the things he had done to her."

Brian's sister, Ashley, also broke her silence following Hayden's tragic death.

Explaining why the Scream actress kept coming back to Brian, she told the Daily Mail, "I get why Hayden was with him. Brian is just the type of person who can make you laugh no matter what, and he can be fun."

However, she insisted Brian's history of abuse did not reflect the way he was raised.

"We all have our demons. Brian was not raised that way," Ashley explained. "It wasn't until he got into drugs that he went south."

During the same interview, Ashley said Brian had acknowledged his issues and that her family was also grieving Hayden's death as a "massive tragedy."