“There is a lot of history in the past that Brian has enabled Hayden many times, and this is why her father and I had been concerned for a long time about him.”
Vogel – who had managed her daughter’s career when she was a child – lamented the fact Panettiere had “lost her way” over the years but hoped she had now found peace with her late brother Jansen, who died unexpectedly in 2023 aged just 28.
She said: “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.
“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. I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.
“I just feel that she’s with her brother and they’re at peace.”
Panettiere previously reflected on how her relationship with her mother grew strained as the boundaries between her as a parent and manager increasingly crossed.
She said on a podcast in May: “Everything was business. I became the confidant and the assistant and the therapist and the shoulder to cry on and everything but her child.”
While filming Heroes when she was 19, she told her mum she wanted to find new management in the hope of rebuilding their personal relationship.
She recalled: “I said to her, ‘I don’t want us to work together anymore. I just want you to be my mom.’ [She said] ‘You owe me.
“I remember being hopeful.”
But she noted it was “disappointing” when she came to believe her mother was referring to money.
She added: “The fact that she didn’t care to have a relationship with me was a tough pill to swallow.”
Hayden remained close to her father, and it was Alan Panettiere who broke the news of her death.
He said in a statement through her representative: “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.
“She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her – and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”
– BANG Showbiz