Lesley Vogel has spoken publicly for the first time since the death of her daughter Hayden Panettiere, saying the 36-year-old actress had lost her way.
Mother and daughter had been unable to overcome their differences in recent years and remained estranged until Panettiere died.
Speaking to NBC News on Tuesday, August 18, Vogel discussed her daughter's talent and the difficulties she believed faced those who entered the entertainment industry at a very young age.
Vogel said she considered Panettiere to be an amazingly talented person in many areas, but believed things were difficult for young people growing up in the business. She said it was a very demanding field where it was unfortunately not unusual for people to lose their way.
Expressing sadness over the path she believed her daughter had taken, Vogel said she found comfort in the thought that Panettiere was now with her brother.
Vogel said she thought it became very difficult to stay true to oneself and believed Panettiere had unfortunately lost her way. She said she wished it had been different and that her daughter had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible gifts.
Vogel added that she simply felt Panettiere was now with her brother and that they had found peace.
Panettiere's younger brother, Jansen, died suddenly in 2023 at the age of 28.
Public tensions over memoir
Tensions between Vogel and her daughter had become known several months before Panettiere's death. The actress had discussed their relationship extensively in public interviews and in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, which was published in May.
Panettiere had started appearing on camera when she was eight months old.
Speaking on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast in May, Panettiere described a childhood in which she claimed her professional and family relationship with her mother had gradually become so intertwined that the boundaries between them were lost.
Panettiere said everything had been work. She claimed she had become her mother's confidante, assistant, psychologist and shoulder to cry on, acting as everything except her child.
Vogel had managed her daughter's career since childhood, but publicly countered some of those claims.
When she was 19 and filming the television series Heroes, Panettiere decided she no longer wanted her mother to manage her career professionally. Her goal was to leave their working partnership behind and try to regain a purely family relationship.
Panettiere recalled telling her mother that she did not want them to work together anymore and just wanted Vogel to be her mother. According to Panettiere, Vogel replied that she owed her.
Financial demands
Panettiere admitted she had initially expected that conversation could be a fresh start for them both, and recalled being optimistic.
That optimism disappeared when she realised her mother was talking about financial demands, Panettiere said. She added that it had been very hard to accept that Vogel was not interested in having a relationship with her.
Vogel presented a different picture of the family feud when the memoir was published. She confirmed she was no longer communicating with her daughter, and said in a statement to Page Six that the drama at the time was partly aimed at promoting book sales.
Vogel claimed she was the one who had decided to step away after 20 years of trauma.
Describing her perspective, Vogel stated that parents of children in the entertainment industry knew how painful it was to watch the self destructive paths they sometimes chose.
She said no parent wished for that, as they wanted their children to become the best version of themselves and live a calm and happy life. Vogel added that this was unfortunately out of their control, stating that you could not save someone who did not want to be saved.
Vogel closed her statement at the time by expressing a wish for her daughter to find the path to inner peace.
Hopes for reconciliation
Despite their rift, Panettiere had not ruled out getting close to her mother again at some point.
In an interview with Us Weekly in May, she admitted there was no communication between them at the time, but maintained hope that the situation could change in the future.
She stated that they unfortunately had no relationship at that moment, but said it did not mean she was not leaving the door open for an opportunity to arise someday.
In contrast to the difficult relationship she described with her mother, Panettiere had characterised her relationship with her father, Alan Skip Panettiere, as excellent.
