Hayden Panettiere, 36, was keeping secret something her own team had asked her to hide.
According to TMZ, the actress had resumed her romance with Brian Hickerson, the man who was arrested in 2019 and 2020 for beating her, facing eight charges that included domestic violence and witness intimidation.
Publicly, they appeared distant while she promoted her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning”, but privately they were still a couple.
Three months before he died, he had described her in an interview as “the Sunday girl”.
On August 15, 2026, they flew together from Los Angeles to Greenville, South Carolina.
The following day, Hayden was found dead at an apartment complex linked to Hickerson.
Police dispatch audio mentions a possible overdose, but the official cause remains undetermined as the Greenville Police Department and the Coroner’s Office investigate what happened that night.