Lesley Vogel had already buried one child. Now she has buried another.
In 2023, her youngest son, Jansen, died from cardiac complications at 28. On Sunday, August 16, 2026, Hayden, her daughter, the actress the world came to know in “Heroes”, died at 36. Lesley, 70, told Good Morning America that when she found out, she was left “numb”, numb: “I still can’t process that this is real”.
Mother and daughter had been estranged for years, and that was enough for many to question her grief. Lesley didn’t stay silent: “To those who criticize me, I would say: they have no right to tell me how I should grieve the loss of my second child. That is my business”.
And as for how she wants the world to remember Hayden, she was clear: as the talented, beautiful, outgoing, and intelligent woman she truly was.