Hayden Panettiere's Mom Slams Brian Hickerson After Her Death

Per the report, Hickerson did not become emotional until Panettiere was pronounced dead just after 2:30 p.m. local time. His brother, however, was “very emotional,” while emergency responders were “working on Hayden.”

Hickerson later provided emergency responders with a “bag of medication” Panettiere was taking at the time of her death, per the report. 

While the status of their relationship was not publicly known at the time of Panettiere’s death, Hickerson was with the Bring It On alum during a flight from Los Angeles to South Carolina Aug. 15, E! News previously learned.

Panettiere’s dynamic with her mom was also fraught over the years, with the pair estranged ahead of her death. As the Heroes alum told Us Weekly in 2025, "Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now."

“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day," she said at the time. "It’s hard for me to say, but I’ve chosen to be brutally honest. So that’s the honest truth of it."

Vogel confirmed their estrangement earlier this year, when Panettiere—whose brother Jansen Panettiere died in 2023 at 28—detailed their tumultuous past in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning. 

"The present drama is partially to sell books," Vogel told Page Six in a May interview. “There is a personality ‘style’ which manifests as a need for control, entitlement and a lack of empathy. The major fear is that someone will see through the mask they present to the world and discover who they truthfully are."

For a look at Panettiere’s life in photos, keep reading…