CBS Mornings host Gayle King did not hold back on Wednesday as she responded to Lesley Vogel’s public comments about her late daughter, Hayden Panettiere.
Vogel, 70, gave her first interview since Panettiere’s death at 36, speaking to NBC News about her estranged daughter’s relationship and struggles. King read parts of Vogel’s statement on air and said it left her with a deep sense of sadness.
Her co-host Vladimir Duthiers agreed, calling Vogel’s comments unfair to Panettiere. He pointed out that the actress had spent years speaking openly about her challenges with substance abuse and mental health, and had done so directly with King just months earlier.
“Hayden Panettiere spent years publicly acknowledging her own failures, her own struggles,” King said. “She did it with you in that interview. She cannot respond now, and for her mother to use these days after Hayden’s death to just remind the world just how much trauma she caused, it’s unseemly.”
In the NBC interview, Vogel addressed Panettiere’s on-and-off relationship with Brian Hickerson, the boyfriend who was with the actress when she died in South Carolina on Sunday.
“I think it becomes very difficult to be true to yourself, and I think Hayden sadly lost her way, and I wish it were different,” Vogel said. “I wish she had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.”
Vogel said young performers face unique pressures and that the entertainment industry can lead people down “the wrong path.”
The comments came just days after Panettiere was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville. Authorities said she suffered a suspected cardiac arrest. The cause of death remains under investigation.
“It was hard when she was here that day,” King said. “But she was still, clearly still struggling. To wake up to hear this news was really tough. She was so good. She would’ve turned 37 on Friday.”
In that May interview, Panettiere spoke candidly about postpartum depression, addiction, the loss of her brother Jansen in 2023, and her complicated relationship with her mother. She said she had chosen to be “brutally honest” in the memoir because she had been afraid to speak openly earlier in her career.
“You hear stuff like that, and you realize it was still very much in progress,” King said. “It makes me so sad that of the opportunity that you have after your daughter’s death that that’s what you choose to leave us with.”
Duthiers echoed that sentiment, saying it was difficult to hear a parent focus on blame in the immediate aftermath of a loss, especially when the person being discussed can no longer speak for herself.
Panettiere first rose to fame as a child actor, with roles in Remember the Titans and A Bug’s Life. She later became widely known as cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes and as country singer Juliette Barnes in Nashville, earning two Golden Globe nominations.
In recent years she was praised for speaking openly about topics many celebrities avoid. She discussed postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter Kaya, her struggles with alcohol and opioids, and the grief of losing her younger brother.
That openness is what made Vogel’s comments sting more for King and Duthiers.
“She spent years trying to tell her own story on her own terms,” King said. “And now, in the days after she’s gone, someone else is framing it.”
Moving forward
Vogel told NBC she last spoke to her daughter in October and that the decision to have no contact was made for “very specific reasons.” She also said she hoped Panettiere was “at peace” with her brother.
For King, the focus remains on Panettiere’s life and the work she did to be honest about mental health.
“She was so talented, and she was trying,” King said on Monday. “That interview in May, you could see it. She was still fighting.”
As tributes continue to pour in from fans and co-stars, King’s on-air response captured the frustration of many who felt Panettiere deserved to be remembered for her courage, not for family conflict.
