Hayden Panettiere felt compelled to set firm boundaries with ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson in the months before her death, including taking steps to protect herself.
“She helped him from time to time because he made her feel guilty, claiming he was trying to turn his life around, but couldn’t because she put him in jail,” a source exclusively shares with Us. “But he would always take advantage of her and wouldn’t leave, so she hired private security to not only remove him, but to keep him away from her.”
As Us previously reported, “He had inserted himself into her life and was surveilling her.”
According to a source, Hickerson, 37, reconnected with Panettiere earlier this year when he needed a place to stay.
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“Brian said he needed to crash on Hayden’s couch. He told her that he had no money and nowhere to go because of the past criminal charges against him and he blamed that on her,” a source shared. “He said it was her fault. She let him stay there temporarily, but then he wouldn’t leave, so her private security was involved to remove him.”
At some point when Hickerson lived with Panettiere in Los Angeles, the Heroes actress discovered that “he had apparently set up cameras in her place,” a source tells Us.
Panettiere — who shared daughter Kaya, 11, with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko — first started dating Hickerson in 2018.
During the relationship, Hickerson was arrested multiple times for alleged domestic violence incidents. (He served 33 days in jail following a 2020 arrest.)
The source adds that the homeowner’s association of her condo building warned residents about Brian.
“It was at the same time that Hayden had her security remove Brian from her home and the security guard lived with her as well to make sure he stayed away,” the source claims.
One of Panettiere’s old neighbors claimed she was “terrified” of the late actress’ on-again, off-again boyfriend.
“He never stopped living at her place,” Mia Terrazzas claimed to Inside Edition on Wednesday, August 19, of Brian’s frequent presence at Panettiere’s West Hollywood apartment. “There were times he ripped apart her bathroom, where he just took a sledgehammer at 5 in the morning.”
Due to her fears, Terrazzas told Inside Edition that she called 911 “at least half a dozen times” to report disturbances at Panettiere’s house.
While Hickerson was out of the Nashville star’s life for several months this year, things changed this summer, according to a source.
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“Brian was with her at the time of her death,” the source previously shared with Us. “All was well up until a week ago when she went kind of silent, and then she passed away.”
Panettiere was found dead at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday, August 16. She was 36. According to a Greenville City Police Department incident report obtained by Us, officials spoke to both Brian and his brother, Zach Hickerson, at the scene shortly after Panettiere was pronounced dead.
Before her tragic passing, Panettiere opened up about the alleged abuse she faced from Brian.
While appearing on a May episode of the “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” podcast, Panettiere said that when she “found the strength to get away from [her] abusers,” they would “always find their way back into [her] life.”
Despite the alleged abuse she endured throughout their relationship, she “desperately wanted to make [Brian] a better person.”
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“Once he was sober, that good part of him would be back, and he would see the damage he had done, and he was devastated and apologetic,” she told host Jay Shetty of Brian. “And it seemed so honest and genuine that I was torn. I thought back to everything I’ve done wrong in the past and the forgiveness I was shown.”
Talking about her memoir, This is Me: A Reckoning, released just three months before her death, Panettiere sat down with Us and candidly addressed the troubling nature of their dynamic.
“Getting an abusive person out of your life is like trying to rip a weed out that is so entangled into your life, and every time you pull it out another weed pops back up and you’re like, I thought I killed this,” she told Us at the time. “They always manage to find a way to slither back in, even if you’re an incredibly strong-willed person. What happened in Wyoming [on Valentine’s Day in February 2020 following another alleged domestic dispute] helped push me in the right direction, but it still took me a long time. I still struggled to fully put a kibosh to it for a while.”
An investigation into Panettiere’s death is ongoing, with local police officials quickly ruling out foul play. An autopsy showed no signs of trauma that would have contributed to the death.
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Brian has since broken his silence on Panettiere’s death in a statement shared on Thursday, August 20.
“Hayden’s death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,” Brian’s attorney, Sloan Ellis, told TMZ. “As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”
Us has reached out to Brian’s reps for comment.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
