ALBAWABA - Lesley Vogel has released a statement following daughter Hayden Panettiere death.
Lesley Vogel, Hayden Panettiere's mother, is trying to explain her difficult relationship with her daughter.
“Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love,” Vogel told ET in a statement published Thursday. “It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death.”
She continued, “Hayden was a beautiful and talented young woman who unfortunately became involved with the wrong person, and although her family tried to extricate him from her life, we were unable to be successful.”
Vogel did not specify his name, but she had previously accused Panettiere's on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, of being involved in her death. In 2021, Hickerson pled not guilty to two felony counts of hurting a spouse/cohabitant/coparent and served time in prison. His attorney has stated that authorities discovered no evidence of foul play and that an inquiry into her death is underway.
“I hope all remember Hayden for the beautiful human being inside her and her gift to the world from her time on this earth,” Vogel wrote. “My heart is with you, Hayden. Mama.”
Vogel's original comments, made the day after Panettiere's death on August 16, have been attacked.
“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,” Vogel told NBC News in her first public comments since her daughter’s death.
“People, they feel pushed into things; even the managers and agents want to control them, and I think it becomes very difficult to be true to yourself, and I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different,” she added.
Vogel, who was Panettiere's manager until she was an adult, said at the time that circumstances led her "to believe there are still questions surrounding what happened."
Her initial comment garnered criticism from actress Holly Robinson Peete, for example.
Peete stated, "There were so many things she could have said to show us that she was a caring mother."
“We know this young lady clearly had so many issues, but if you’re not going to take accountability for the fact that you put her in the business that eventually messed her up, then nothing you say has any integrity,” Peete wrote on social media. “She didn’t even say ‘I will miss my daughter’ or ‘I loved my daughter the best way I could. Has she even mentioned the word daughter"?
Panettiere had infamously written about her relationship with Vogel, how she felt constant pressure to perform well at auditions, for one thing, in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was published in May.
Vogel slammed Hayden Panettiere’s account of her parenting.
“There is a personality ‘style’ that manifests as a need for control, entitlement, and a lack of empathy,” Vogel told Page Six. "The main fear is that someone will see through their mask and find out who they really are."
She said that she was the one who chose not to have a relationship with her daughter.
“After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route. As many parents of entertainment children know, we are all too familiar with the heartbreaking experience of witnessing their children's self-destructive behaviors. No parent wishes for this outcome; we want our children to be their best selves and have a quiet, pleasant life!"
Vogel's latest statement attracted responses such as "stop with these posts," "Who needs enemies when you have a mother like that?" and "Sit down."
