Hayden Panettiere's mother claims daughter's ex pawned possessions

Hayden Panettiere's mother has claimed her daughter's ex pawned off some of her possessions.

Lesley Vogel told The New York Times that Brian Hickerson took some of her daughter's treasured belongings and pawned them before her death.

Hayden, who was found unresponsive by emergency services after a cardiac arrest on 16 August at the age of 36, had been estranged from her mother for some time, as detailed in the late actress's 2026 Memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

However, on Sunday, Vogel, 70, told The New York Times she had visited Panettiere in Los Angeles in 2025 when her daughter was battling her addiction demons.

"She was in pain," Vogel told the outlet. "She was afraid. She couldn't physically function properly."

She also told the newspaper she had been shocked to discover Hayden's abusive ex-boyfriend had pawned some of Panettiere's belongings, including a vintage guitar.

Vogel also claimed her daughter was likewise taken aback to learn that Hickerson, 37, continued to hold onto some of her possessions in a storage unit in his name.

In her book, Panettiere opened up about the abuse she suffered at Hickerson's hands - violent outbursts that resulted in three arrests as well as jail time.

In May, talking to media to promote the memoir, Panettiere told the On Purpose podcast her relationship with Vogel had been almost strictly professional, even when she was a minor.

"Everything was business," she told the show's host, Jay Shetty. "I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child."

She added she had attempted to adjust their relationship when she was working on the early-noughties sci-fi series, Heroes.

"I said to her, 'I don't want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom,'" Panettiere recalled.