Hayden Panettiere’s death at the age of 36 came just months after the late actress publicly opened up about her estrangement from her mother and former manager, Lesley Vogel.
The former “Heroes” star died on Sunday at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, where she had been temporarily staying. Authorities have said the cause and manner of her death remain under investigation.
In her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” published in May, Panettiere detailed her complicated relationship with Vogel, who managed the actress’s career after she began working in the entertainment industry as a baby.
During an interview with Us Weekly, Panettiere confirmed that she and Vogel were not in contact.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now,” she told the outlet in May. “But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day. It’s hard for me to say, but I’ve chosen to be brutally honest.”
Born in Palisades, New York, Panettiere was the daughter of former soap opera actress Vogel and New York City firefighter Alan “Skip” Panettiere.
Panettiere signed with the modeling agency Wilhelmina Models at 8 months old and booked her first commercial at 11 months. She landed her first recurring television role in the long-running soap opera “One Life to Live” when she was 4.
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Vogel assumed the role of Panettiere’s manager, making business and financial decisions for her daughter throughout her childhood.
In her memoir, Panettiere reflected on growing up with Vogel overseeing her career and how the blurred lines between mother and manager affected their relationship long after she became an adult.
Panettiere portrayed Vogel as a domineering and complicated figure in her childhood, alleging that her mother could be volatile and withholding of affection as she managed her daughter’s career.
During an interview with The Independent in May, Panettiere recalled how she was lauded for her acting skills at a very early age and began to associate professional praise with maternal affection.
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“Getting that kind of praise so young made me feel empowered and happy,” Panettiere said. “But it was also all wrapped up in pleasing my mom. Her opinions were the most important to me. I associated praise with love. So being praised felt like being loved.”
In her book, Panettiere also recounted specific incidents to illustrate the pressures she faced as her mother managed her career. In one striking anecdote, Panettiere recalled losing a baby tooth at age 8 less than 24 hours before an important audition.
Panettiere wrote that both she and Vogel became panicked, fearing the gap would prevent her from booking the gig. She claimed that Vogel ultimately superglued the tooth to her dental flipper, and she went on to land the job.
During an appearance on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast in May, Panettiere described how she had felt about the dynamic that emerged from Vogel serving as both her mother and manager.
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“Everything was business,” she recalled. “I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.”
After years as a successful child actor, Panettiere skyrocketed to fame at 17 when she landed the role of cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC’s hit series “Heroes,” which premiered in 2006.
While speaking with Shetty, Panettiere recalled that at age 19, she decided to end her business relationship with Vogel because she wanted them to have a more normal mother-daughter relationship.
“I said to her, ‘I don’t want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom,’” Panettiere remembered.
“I remember being hopeful,” she continued. “But I also wasn’t expecting the reaction that I got, which was, ‘You owe me.’ And that’s all she said. And she walked out.”
Panettiere said that she later ruminated on her mother’s comment, which she found confusing.
“It was like this dark looming cloud, you know, over my head going, ‘What does she mean by I owe her?’ ‘What form of payment is she expecting?,'” Panettiere remembered. “And it was disappointing to find out that it was money and that she didn’t pursue a relationship with me as just a mother/daughter.”
“The fact that she didn’t care to have a relationship with me was a tough pill to swallow,” she added.
Although Panettiere stressed that she wasn’t solely supporting her family as a child actor, she said Vogel established a corporation around her work and some of her childhood earnings went toward family expenses, including car leases and cell phone bills. She described the dynamic as “role reversal,” that left her feeling “incredibly uncomfortable.”
Panettiere’s parents separated in 2008 and finalized their divorce in 2016. The former couple also shared son Jansen Panettiere, who died suddenly in 2023 at the age of 28 due to heart complications.
Vogel has previously disputed Panettiere’s portrayal of their relationship. In May, ahead of the publication of Panettiere’s book, Vogel addressed her estrangement from her daughter.
“After 20 years of trauma, I took the advice of professionals and chose the no-contact route,” she told Page Six in part at the time. “As many parents of entertainment children [know], we are all too familiar with the painful observation of watching the self-destructive paths they sometimes choose. No parent hopes for this scenario; we want our children to be the best of themselves and live a peaceful, joyful life!”
Vogel also suggested that the public airing of their family conflict was “partially to sell books.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Vogel for comment on her daughter’s death and Panettiere’s previous statements about their relationship.
Panettiere was far from the first former child star whose relationship with a parent became complicated when the mother doubled as a manager. Here’s a look at other actresses who have opened up about fraught family dynamics with their former momagers.
Former “iCarly” star Jennette McCurdy has frequently spoken out candidly about her difficult relationship with her late mother and former manager Debra McCurdy. In her bestselling 2022 memoir “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” Jennette wrote extensively about their dynamic, describing Debra as intensely controlling and abusive.
Jennette recalled that Debra pushed Jennette into the acting industry at age 6 to live out her own unfulfilled dreams, though the Nickelodeon star has said she never wanted to become an actress.
“My mom had always dreamt of being a famous actor, and she became obsessed with making me a star,” McCurdy claimed in a 2021 interview with People magazine. “I felt like my job was to keep the peace and I wanted to make my mom happy.”
In her memoir and past interviews, Jennette alleged that Debra introduced her to calorie restriction when the actress was 11, leading to lifelong eating disorders. Jennette has accused Debra of monitoring her excessively, performing inappropriate physical exams and continuing to shower her well into her teenage years.
The now 34-year-old claimed that Debra controlled every aspect of her personal and financial life until her mother died due to cancer in 2013.
She has said that it was only after Debra’s death and years of therapy that she came to identify what she had experienced as abuse. Jennette eventually left acting, describing it as an identity her mother had created for her.
Brooke Shields has never disputed the complicated relationship she shared with her late mother, Teri Shields, who the actress has described as the “original momager.”
Teri managed Brooke’s career from the time she made her modeling debut at 11 months old into her 20s. Brooke has previously said she supported the family household as a child star and Teri tightly controlled her schedules, sets, and interviews.
The actress and model has also spoken out about how she was sexualized and objectified as a minor, including playing a child sex worker in the controversial 1978 movie “Pretty Baby” at 11 to starring in provocative Calvin Klein ads at 15.
Teri also struggled with alcoholism, which Brooke has said further complicated their relationship, especially with her mother’s dual roles as a mother and manager. In her late 20s, Brooke ultimately fired Teri as her manager, a decision she later described as “the hardest thing” she had ever done.
Brooke has described suffering lasting trauma due to growing up with an alcoholic mother, saying she learned from an early age to monitor Teri’s moods and behavior. However, she has resisted portraying herself simply as her mother’s victim, maintaining that Teri fiercely loved and protected her despite their complicated relationship.
Teri passed away in October 2012 after a long illness due to dementia.
Drew Barrymore has previously described having a complex relationship with her mother and former manager, Jaid Barrymore.
After Drew shot to fame in the 1982 mega-hit movie “E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial” at age 7, her mother brought her along to Hollywood parties and nightclubs while she was still a child, which she said created a dynamic in which Jaid behaved more like a friend than a parent.
By 13, Drew began to struggle with addictions to drugs and alcohol. Jaid later admitted her to a psychiatric institution, where she spent 18 months. Drew was legally emancipated from her mother at 14 and began living independently.
Despite their painful history, Barrymore has said she and Jaid eventually reconciled and remain in contact. She has acknowledged her mother’s failures while also saying she believes Jaid loved her and was herself ill-equipped to raise a child in the extraordinary circumstances of Drew’s early fame.
Leighton Meester’s relationship with her mother and former manager, Constance Meester, eventually deteriorated into a bitter legal battle.
At age 11, Leighton launched her modeling career after she and Constance moved from Florida to New York. Leighton made her acting debut at 13 in a 1999 episode of “Law & Order” and landed her breakthrough role in the hit show “Gossip Girl” in 2009 when she was 20.
In 2011, at the height of her “Gossip Girl” fame, Leighton sued her mother, alleging that some of the $7,500 she sent home each month to help care for her younger brother, who had serious health problems, was instead being spent on cosmetic procedures and personal expenses, including Botox, plastic surgery and hair extensions.
Constance countersued her daughter, claiming Leighton had promised to support her financially and owed her $10,000 a month. A judge ultimately sided with Leighton in 2012, ruling that there was no valid agreement requiring her to financially support her mother.
Mischa Barton is another star who found herself facing her mother and former manager Nuala Barton in court.
Mischa began acting professionally at age 8, around the same time Nuala began managing her career. Nuala received a 10% management fee from her daughter’s earnings.
In 2003, Mischa rose to fame at 17 after landing the role of troubled Newport Beach teen Marissa Cooper on the hit series “The O.C.” However, Mischa’s personal and professional relationship with her mother eventually fell apart.
Mischa sued her mother in 2015, with her complaint describing Nuala as a “greedy stage mother.” The actress alleged that her mother had taken control of her finances and lied about how much she was being paid for a film and pocketed the difference. She also accused Nuala of assigning herself co-ownership of a $7.8 million Beverly Hills home that was purchased with Mischa’s earnings.
Nuala denied the allegations, with her representative calling claims of dishonest or improper conduct “outrageous and patently false.” Mischa ultimately moved to dismiss the lawsuit in 2016.
During a 2024 appearance on Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Mischa explained why she decided to fire Nuala as her manager.
“It just wasn’t healthy,” she said. “I’ve really learned to prioritize my chosen family and the people who have really, actually been there for me. I don’t rely on any one particular family member anymore. I’ve learned that for my own happiness.”
Ariel Winter had a turbulent relationship with her mother and former manager Chrisoula “Crystal” Workman and the two have remained estranged for years.
Winter previously said her mother “pushed” her into the entertainment industry at age 4 and Workman went on to manage her career. Workman also served as the president and secretary of the family’s entertainment company Winter Sky Entertainment.
At age 11, Winter was cast in her breakout role as Alex Dunphy on the hit sitcom “Modern Family,” which premiered in 2009. When she was 14 in 2012, Winter was removed from the care of Workman amid allegations of physical and emotional abuse and her older sister was appointed her guardian.
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Workman also temporarily lost control of her daughter’s finances and career. A judge also ordered her to step down from her roles at Winter Sky Entertainment.
Court filings also accused Workman of restricting Winter’s food and attempting to sexualize her appearance. Workman has repeatedly denied all allegations.
Winter was legally emancipated and declared an adult at age 17 in 2015. She has repeatedly asserted that she and Workman remain estranged.
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During a 2025 interview with People magazine, Winter said her “entire childhood” was her “biggest source of trauma.”
“It’s a really deep, painful, sore, sore part for me that’s so much deeper and bigger than I’ve ever felt ready to talk about,” she said.
