Inside Hayden Panettiere's toxic romance with Brian Hickerson: Her haunting words about the bloody beatings... and why she kept going back before fateful last trip

By HARRIET ALEXANDER, US SENIOR FEATURES WRITER and RUTH WALKER, U.S. BOOKS EDITOR Published: 19:44, 17 August 2026 | Updated: 19:47, 17 August 2026 It was the summer of 2018 and Hayden Panettiere was newly single, recently out of rehab, and hoping to make a fresh start. Her ex-fiance, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko, had obtained in 2018 full custody of their three-year-old daughter Kaya - Panettiere's postnatal depression and alcoholism made motherhood an impossible struggle. So Panettiere's brother Jansen, five years her junior, suggested they go out in West Hollywood and have a good time. It was then, in the wildly popular gay bar The Abbey, that Panettiere met a man who would change the course of her life - Brian Hickerson. Hickerson, an aspiring actor and real estate agent from South Carolina, swept Panettiere off her feet 'at lightning speed', she writes in her memoir, which was published in May. Within weeks they were living together at her Los Angeles home - dancing in her living room, redecorating, playing board games and watching 'practically every Netflix series ever made'. 'I finally began to feel beautiful again,' she wrote, praising his smile and sense of humor. 'I also started to feel safe, loved and cherished. It was like Brian and I were two best friends living together under one roof.' But for all its blissful beginnings, the relationship was ultimately violent and tempestuous. Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson are pictured together in December 2018, within months of beginning their relationship. She was found dead on Sunday in his home state of South Carolina Hickerson is seen in his Wyoming mugshot, after his arrest in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2020 He was arrested and charged with domestic violence in 2019 and in 2020 - the final incident saw him sentenced to 45 days in jail. The troubles did not end there: in May 2022 the pair had a wild fight inside the bar of the Sunset Marquis hotel in LA, and Hickerson was photographed being restrained by a bystander, seemingly missing a shoe. Panettiere was reportedly overheard yelling: 'Brian, jail!' - a reminder that he was still on probation. They split, seemingly for good, in July 2022. She recalled in excruciating detail the beatings in her memoir, and he, on publication, owned his past behavior, calling the book an essential read. Then they appeared to reconcile. On Saturday, Panettiere and Hickerson flew from LA to South Carolina. On Sunday, she was found dead at an apartment in Greenville, after 'an unidentified acquaintance' called 911 to report 'a potential overdose', according to audio of the call obtained by People. The Greenville County Coroner's Office has completed the star's autopsy, with the coroner telling Page Six that 'no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death.' The cause and exact manner of her death remain under investigation. It's not known whether he was in the apartment at the time. Hickerson, approached by the Daily Mail, is yet to comment. It's also not known how the pair resumed their relationship, and indeed whether it was romantic or just friendship - perhaps the airing of all the dirty laundry, in horrific detail, had allowed them to move on. And certainly the book paints an uncomfortable picture. It's not clear when exactly the abuse began, between the summer of 2018 and spring of 2019: Panettiere does not give a date. Instead she describes a horrific scene when, after a bottle of wine each and several vodkas, their evening becomes hellish. 'I say something I regret,' she wrote. 'A chair scrapes against the floor, and Brian stands up, all six feet of him. He leans toward my face and screams: 'What is wrong with you?' 'I flinch, and he keeps screaming.' She described a terrifying tussle with a paring knife, before a wine glass crashes to the floor and Hickerson hits her for the first time. 'I hear it before I feel it,' she wrote. 'The unmistakable sound of an open-hand slap. Then there's burning on my cheek, like I'm on fire. There's ringing in my head. There's silence.' Panettiere and Hickerson were both registered as living in this Los Angeles building Panettiere on one of her last public outings on June 2026. She was in New York City to promote her memoir  Nothing was ever said about that first slap. But, soon, she wrote, the slaps became punches. She also punched him too, she admitted - joking, with gallows humor, that time spent watching boxing with her ex came in useful. 'One night he busts up my face so badly I don't leave the house for weeks,' she wrote. 'Another day he screams at me to run as far as I can in five seconds because I'll need a head start before he throws the remote control at me. This is a man who doesn't miss, I think. 'And he doesn't. The remote control hits my face like it's been thrown by a minor league pitcher.' She fought back: 'All that boxing I watched paid off,' she wrote. 'Punches rain down, hard,' she wrote of a May 2019 incident. 'My head hits the wall, and he's straddling me, pinning me down using all his weight. 'Why did you hit yourself?' he screams as I struggle under him. 'You're all bruised, why did you do that to yourself?' Terrified, she escapes and runs to the car - where she keeps a bottle of water in the glove compartment 'for times like this.' Neighbors called 911 and Hickerson was charged with domestic assault, but pleads not guilty. Panettiere and Hickerson in happier times in a photo he shared on Instagram before turning his social media dark  Panettiere and Hickerson are seen in January 2019 in Los Angeles 'He argues that I was the one hitting myself - not him - and he'd in fact recorded himself saying: 'Why did you hit yourself?' as I fully lost control.' He was initially ordered to stay 100 yards away from her, but Panettiere accepted his apologies - he claimed to have no memory of the fight - and the charges were dropped in September 2019. In November 2019, a Hickerson family source told Us Weekly that his family were troubled by their relationship. 'Brian's family is extremely concerned for his safety when he is with Hayden,' the source said. 'They are terrified that Brian will once again find himself accused of domestic violence. Hayden and Brian are very toxic for each other.' Hayden Panettiere seen with bruises on her arms in 2022. She and Hickerson had been involved in a scuffle outside a hotel  The following year, in February 2020, the pair traveled to Jackson, Wyoming, for Valentine's Day. After another night of drinking, she wrote that, once more, their 'playful banter' turned toxic, and, she claimed, Hickerson pushed her up against a wall. 'I felt my head snap back and smash into the wall, and a sharp pain shot down into my back. I braced my body to absorb the shock, then I closed my eyes. 'Clap. Brian slapped me hard, and a familiar sting radiated out from my cheek and across my entire body.' Again, neighbors called the police and Hickerson was arrested. She wrote that, in the days immediately following their fight, she was determined to end the relationship, and the 'toxic waste dump we'd found ourselves swimming in.' A Wyoming police report from the time noted 'a fresh scrape and swelling on the top of her left hand which she believed came from Hickerson's watch during the altercation.' She tried once more to stay away from him and added, in the memoir: 'I knew that if Brian laid his hands on me one more time, and I caught him off guard, I might kill him in self-defense… that was a chance I just couldn't take.' In July of that year she obtained a restraining order against him, writing on July 17, 2020 that she hoped others would be inspired by her to walk away from abusive partners. 'I am coming forward with the truth about what happened to me with the hope that my story will empower others in abusive relationships to get the help they need and deserve,' she wrote on Instagram. 'I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again. I'm grateful for my support system, which helped me find the courage to regain my voice and my life.' Panettiere in her memoir, years later, wrote that she still loved Hickerson, and the man he was, when he wasn't 'raging.' Hickerson was charged in July 2020 with four domestic assault felonies, one misdemeanor count of battery, two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one felony count of dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime. The charges covered the period from May 2019 to July 2020. Panettiere, a child star, is pictured in September 2012 In April 2021 he accepted a plea deal, pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend. The remaining six counts were dismissed. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years' probation, plus $500 in fines and mandatory domestic violence classes. In May 2021 he surrendered to serve his sentence, spending 19 days behind bars. Panettiere insisted she only wanted him to be in jail long enough to get scared. 'I didn't want to traumatize him in an irreversible way,' she wrote. 'So I decided to do what I wish others would do for me. I decided to let go of my resentment and try to forgive Brian.' Yet time behind bars did not have the desired effect, and soon they were back to their old ways. By May 2022 they were evidently back together, drinking at the Sunset Marquis when yet another violent altercation ensued - which saw Panettiere warn Hickerson that he was still on probation. She separated from him once more in July 2022. Hickerson, in May this year, when the book was published, heaped praise on her and said her account was true. He even told TMZ he still hoped to marry her. 'I hope so, [but] she probably doesn't think the same way,' the 37-year-old said. 'I think Hayden is one of most talented people I've ever met in my life, and I would be an idiot not to walk away from her and let her flourish in her career.' Panettiere, asked by TMZ about his wish to marry her, laughed as she walked through an airport and replied: 'I don't think that's going to happen.' Yet Hickerson was effusive in his praise of her memoir. 'Hayden's book's incredible. I think it's great,' he said. 'I think everyone should read it. I mean, the domestic violence stuff - my chapter - everybody should read it.' He added: 'You got to be vulnerable and, you know, I did it. I did it.'