Hayden Panettiere was just 8 months old when she began working in front of cameras.
She grew up confusing two roles that should never have been mixed: that of daughter and employee of her own mother, Lesley Vogel, who was also her manager.
“Everything was business”, the 36-year-old actress said on the podcast On Purpose with Jay Shetty. In her own words, she became her mother’s confidante, assistant, therapist, and shoulder to cry on. “Anything but her daughter”.
At 19, while filming Heroes, she gathered the courage to ask her for something simple: “I just want you to be my mom”. The response she received was three words: “You owe me”.
And she left without saying anything else. Panettiere spent years wondering what kind of payment her mother expected. The answer, when it came, was even harder to accept: it was money.
Interview: