In the year 2020, Hayden Panettiere’s Valentine’s Day ended with her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson getting arrested for punching her “with a closed fist on the right side of her face.”
More than six years later, she was with the very same man before she unexpectedly lost her life.
Hickerson’s troublesome past, including being arrested for attacking her, resurfaced after Panettiere’s passing was announced over the weekend.
Highlights
- Hayden Panettiere was with her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson shortly before her passing.
- An “acquaintance” found her “unresponsive” at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.
- Hickerson's troublesome past came to light following her unexpected loss.
- She wrote about his violent behavior in her memoir, saying he “busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks.”
Hayden Panettiere’s on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson has served prison time for having a physical altercation with her
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Prior to Hayden Panettiere’s unexpected passing, the 36-year-old had reportedly flown from Los Angeles to the South on Saturday with her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson.
An “acquaintance” found her "unresponsive" at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday afternoon. She was pronounced deceased at the scene.
“The preliminary investigation has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances,” authorities said.
More details about her passing were not immediately disclosed. But the tragic news rehashed Hickerson’s previous run-ins with the law, including being arrested for a physical altercation he had with the former child star.
Panettiere had dedicated some pages of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, to writing about her boyfriend Hickerson, whom she began dating in 2018.
Hickerson had moved from South Carolina to Los Angeles to work in real estate and become an actor.
The Heroes star detailed Hickerson’s alleged violence in her memoir
In her memoir, the Heroes actress wrote about his violent behavior, including one occasion where he slammed her head into a wall.
On another occasion, he screamed and said, “run as far as I can in five seconds because I’ll need a head start before he throws the remote control at me.”
He “busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks,” she wrote in the memoir, released in May this year.
Hickerson “busts up my face so badly I don’t leave the house for weeks,” she wrote in her book
Earlier this year, in the wake of the memoir's May release, Hickerson shared what it felt like to read about him in her book. He admitted asking her not to include one particular story, but it did ultimately wind up in the final book.
“I was drunk. Hayden was standing across the room and I had a phone in my hand, and I said, ‘Uh, Hayden,’ I said, ‘I'll give you 10 seconds to run as fast as you can before I throw it at you,’” he told TMZ in May.
Panettiere said she was always afraid of calling 911 because “then the public" would find out about the violence.
So instead, she found solace in her car, sitting alone with a book and some water until her boyfriend calmed down.
“I’ve struggled with how to tell this because I don’t want to be a spokesperson for domestic violence,” she wrote. “I never wanted to call myself a victim, but here I am.”
Hickerson’s violence was also inflicted on his father during an October 2018 incident, where he fought with his dad and left him with “what appeared to be blood on his face,” an incident report said.
In 2019, officers from the Los Angeles Police Department said they responded to a neighbor’s 911 call to find actress Hayden Panettiere with “redness and marks” on her body.
The pair had allegedly gotten into an argument after a night out in Hollywood.
At the time, Hickerson was arrested for having “willfully inflicted corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon Hayden P,” prosecutors said.
The 36-year-old actress said she would hide in her car until her boyfriend calmed down
Panettiere said in July 2020 that she was coming forward “with the truth about what happened to [her].”
She hoped her story “will empower others in ab*sive relationships to get the help they need and deserve.”
“I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again,” she told People. “I'm grateful for my support system, which helped me find the courage to regain my voice and my life.”
The next year, Hickerson was arrested for allegedly attacking the Nashville star in Wyoming on Valentine’s Day.
He allegedly got into an argument with her and struck her “with a closed fist on the right side of her face.”
At the time, the 911 caller said an intoxicated man was locked out of the house because he punched his girlfriend.
Responding officers arrived to find him in the driveway, claiming Panettiere was in the house “saying he beat the f*** out of me.”
When cops spoke to Panettiere, she reportedly told them they were in their bedroom when he began throwing her around and punched her, leaving her face red and swollen.
She also had a scrape on her left hand and some swelling.
Hickerson was sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years of formal probation for the violent incidents.
The pair reconnected after he was released from prison.
“We have a long history together, and the first step in my recovery as an abuser is making amends. That’s exactly what Hayden has been gracious enough to allow me to do,” Hickerson said at the time.
Hickerson and the former child star reconnected after he served time in jail
“Man, I mean, I think it speaks for itself…I got arrested for ab*sing her,” he told TMZ earlier this year. “And I wouldn’t blame her friends for being pissed off at me. “So I don’t really have much to say on that.”
He said they have “been together for eight years,” and he’s had “a couple opportunities to apologize” and “reflect” on the incident that landed him in jail.
“You’d have to ask her what she thinks about it, but you know…you never lay hands on a woman. Bottom line,” he added.
Domestic violence affects millions of people around the world each year. It can include physical, s*xu*l, emotional and psychological abuse, as well as controlling behavior.
An average of 24 people per minute are victims of r*pe, stalking, or physical violence by an intimate partner in the US, and victims often face significant barriers to seeking help or leaving an abusive relationship.
Fear, shame, intimidation, low self-esteem, lack or resources, and normalization of violent or controlling behavior could be some of the reasons why victims stay in ab*sive relationships.
“Everything is making me feel even more heartbroken,” one commented online
