Hayden Panettiere's Mother Breaks Silence, Disputes Memoir Claim and Hits Back at Critics

Lesley Vogel, the mother of late actress Hayden Panettiere, has broken her silence to dispute a claim from her daughter's memoir and push back against public criticism of how she mourns.

In an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, Vogel denied an account in Panettiere's memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning — published on 19 May — that Vogel replied "You owe me" when Panettiere, then 19, told her she no longer wanted her mother managing her career. According to the memoir, Vogel then walked out of the conversation. Panettiere wrote that she had been hopeful going into that talk and was not expecting those words (The Hollywood Reporter).

Vogel says she never said it.

The former soap opera actress also used the GMA interview to address those who have criticised her public remarks since her daughter's death on Sunday, 16 August, at age 36. "You don't have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child," Vogel said (The Hollywood Reporter).

Vogel's first public comments after Panettiere's death came in a phone interview with NBC News, published 19 August, in which she said of her daughter: "I just feel that she's with her brother and they're at peace" (NBC News). People described Vogel as Panettiere's "estranged mom" in its coverage of those remarks (People).

In that NBC News interview, Vogel also criticised Panettiere's on-again-off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson, saying her daughter had "lost her way." The comment drew accusations that Vogel was inappropriately criticising her late daughter. Panettiere met Hickerson after a stint in rehab, and her memoir detailed instances of physical abuse that occurred while the two were drinking. Hickerson later pleaded no contest to two felony charges (The Hollywood Reporter; NBC News).

In a separate interview with the Daily Mail, Vogel turned on two media figures who had commented on her — Gayle King and Megyn Kelly. She said she was "very, very hurt and deeply disappointed" by what she called their lack of professionalism and compassion (The Hollywood Reporter).

Vogel also offered her own account of when things changed for her daughter. She said Panettiere had a happy life until landing her breakout role in NBC's 2006 series Heroes at age 16, and that she saw her "going downhill" starting at 17 (The Hollywood Reporter).

Panettiere had been open about her struggles with addiction and postpartum depression, writing about both in her memoir. She had hoped the book would help readers facing similar challenges (The Hollywood Reporter). The Hollywood Reporter had interviewed Panettiere about being "groomed" to be a child star in connection with the memoir, months before her death (The Hollywood Reporter).

Vogel said she wants her daughter remembered as talented, beautiful, outgoing and intelligent — rather than for her addiction struggles (The Hollywood Reporter).