Earlier this year, Hayden Panettiere was on a book tour to promote her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which dove into details about her struggles with drug and alcohol addiction as well as her relationship with her abusive ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson, among other things. Now, following the death of Panettiere, details have emerged about the level of security that surrounded her during this book tour, and the extra steps taken to ensure Hickerson stayed away.
At a book tour stop in May at a Barnes & Noble in Manhattan, the store was reportedly told not to let Brian Hickerson into the event. That’s according to two people with direct knowledge of the tour who spoke to the NYT. Along with that, it was reported that Panettiere had private security with her who were specifically instructed to make sure her ex stayed away.
The Heroes actress wrote about her relationship with Hickerson in her book, which was released on May 19 this year, and she provided details about his violence against her. According to her memoir, they began arguing months into their relationship, and that eventually led to drunken attacks. He was arrested three times and did a stint in jail amid all this; however, their relationship remained on-again-off-again.
They met in 2018, and during that time, Panettiere had had her daughter and was struggling with postpartum depression. She then became dependent on drugs and alcohol. While she got treatment for addiction, she struggled to stay sober and eventually gave custody of her daughter to her ex-boyfriend Wladimir Klitschko.
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Apparently, when Panettiere and Hickerson were together, she’d separate herself from others in her life. And it was reported that he was “a persistent source of conflict in the final year” of her life. Amid this, the actress was also dealing with pain that made it hard for her to walk, as well as addiction, agoraphobia and grief (her brother Jansen died in 2023 due to cardiomegaly and aortic valve complications).
Hickerson was arrested in 2020 on domestic violence charges and was sentenced to 45 days in jail, as well as probation and domestic violence classes. He violated his probation in 2022 when he and the actress were filmed in a brawl with other people in West Hollywood. After that, he filed for bankruptcy, listed his employer’s address as his ex’s home, and at some point worked as her assistant.
Now, Hickerson was present when Panettiere was pronounced dead, and he showed an officer a bag of her medications when police arrived on the scene. He and his brother Zach were listed as the people who called 911, they are not being accused of being involved and there were no signs of foul play.
The Remember the Titans actress went into cardiac arrest, and there is an investigation into an apparent drug overdose.
This all comes months after Panettiere said she had “more life to live.” While she hadn’t acted much since Nashville ended in 2018, she did return to it for Scream VI in 2023, and then did four movies between 2024 and 2026. It was reported that she had plans to keep acting and write a TV show too. She also released her book this year and did quite a bit of press for it.
Since her death, many of Panettiere’s friends, colleagues, and fans have paid tribute, and this included everyone from actors she worked with on Nashville to the director of Ice Princess. Meanwhile, the story surrounding her death and Brian Hickerson’s connection to it continues to develop.
