Days after opening up about a deeply disturbing experience from her early years in Hollywood, Hayden Panettiere appears to be revealing more subtle clues about the identity of the “very famous” man she says she was placed in bed with at just 18 years old.
Keep reading to learn more.
Hayden Panettiere first discussed the incident publicly during an appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast while promoting her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was released on May 19.
During the interview, Hayden described how a trusted industry friend allegedly betrayed her and led her into a situation that left her feeling trapped and unsafe while aboard a yacht in the South of France.
Panettiere, who began working in entertainment when she was only 11 months old through commercials, became widely known for roles in films including Remember the Titans, Ice Princess, and Bring It On: All or Nothing.
However, between roughly 2018 and 2022, she largely disappeared from the spotlight while privately struggling with addiction and depression.
Speaking to Shetty, Hayden described that period of her life as a “horrible cycle” involving substance a**iction and mental health struggles.
She also detailed an incident involving a female industry friend she said she “had grown to trust and see as a protector.”
According to Panettiere, the two had been spending time on a yacht trip in the South of France when the woman — referred to in the memoir by the pseudonym Stella McAmis — approached her during dinner and asked her to come downstairs to meet someone.
Hayden said she was then led into a “very small room” inside a private cabin, where Stella allegedly “physically put me in the bed next to this undr*ssed man who was very famous.”
At the time of the incident, Panettiere says she was only 18 years old.
While she did not reveal the man’s identity during the podcast interview, readers of her memoir believe she may have included additional details that point toward who he was.
In the book, the actress describes the man as a “famous thirty-something British singer-songwriter.”
She recalled discovering him shirtless in bed beneath the sheets and thinking, “‘Oh my God,’ I thought. ‘Is he n*ked under there?’”
According to Panettiere, her friend then allegedly whispered, “I want you to get in bed with him,” before making a crude comment about the man’s anatomy and leaving the room.
Recounting the moment in her memoir, Hayden wrote, “My body no longer felt like my own… As soon as the door clicked close, my survival instinct kicked in.”
She said she immediately told the man, “Look … I don’t know what she said to you, but this is not going to happen.”
Panettiere explained that years of being surrounded by adults in Hollywood had conditioned her to ignore her instincts and simply comply with authority figures.
Still, she says she quickly realized she needed to protect herself and immediately got out of bed and left the room.
Reflecting on the betrayal by her friend, Hayden wrote, “I wasn’t scared, but I felt like I’d been kicked in the face. She’d confided in me, pampered me and treated me like her best friend — then turned around and treated me like a call girl.”
She added, “I deserved better than that, by a lot!”
During her interview with Jay Shetty, Hayden also reflected on how young she truly was at the time despite believing she was mature enough to handle adult situations.
“The fact that I was 18, even though I’d lived such a huge life and I thought I was oh so mature at 18 … scientifically, your frontal lobes don’t develop until we’re what, 25, 26?” she said.
“So even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions, safe decisions, I wasn’t capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me.”
She added that there had been “no hints” beforehand that anything inappropriate was about to happen.
“There were no hints of anything like that happening, so it took me by surprise,” Hayden explained.
Because they were “quite literally out to sea,” she said she felt trapped and later hid in different parts of the yacht to avoid running into the people involved.
“And there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation. I realized that this was nothing new to them,” she shared.
In a separate interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Panettiere explained why she chose not to publicly identify the people involved in the incidents described in her memoir.
“Because it was a bad look for them and [the people I didn’t name] were generally people within my industry. They’re people I could run into again. I didn’t want to put myself in that position,” she told the outlet.
She also added, “Things happened a long time ago, but it was to protect me and my company from being sued by some very p*ssed-off famous people.”
Elsewhere in the memoir, Hayden also described another troubling encounter involving what she called a “well-respected” Oscar-winning actor and director.
According to Panettiere, the incident happened at a small gathering at a friend’s apartment in Los Feliz when she was 19 years old.
She alleged the man unexpectedly exposed himself to her, leaving her shocked and deeply uncomfortable.
There has been no shortage of tragedy in Panettiere’s life. In February 2023, she lost younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere who was just 28 years old. According to a statement released by the family, Jansen’s death was caused by “cardiomegaly (enlarged heart), coupled with aortic valve complications.”
Jansen, who was also an actor known for roles in projects like The Walking Dead, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Blue’s Clues, was reportedly very close to Hayden. In later interviews, Hayden described the loss as life-altering, admitting it intensified her grief, anxiety, and struggles with agoraphobia. She has since said much of her healing journey and decision to share her story publicly has been inspired by her brother’s memory.
The actress has really bared her soul in her memoir. Share this with others who might want to know about her story.
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