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Hayden Panettiere was once romantically involved with on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson’s brother before her death.
Us understands that Panettiere dated Zach Hickerson in 2019. She and Brian, meanwhile, were together on and off from 2018 to 2020.
The Daily Mail was first to report the news alongside photos of Panettiere and Zach holding hands in New York City in September 2019. (The Daily Mail reported that Zach declined to comment.)
Panettiere died in South Carolina at age 36 on Sunday, August 16. She is survived by her parents and 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, whom she welcomed with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” Hayden’s father, Skip Panettiere, told Us in a statement. “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen. We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
Hayden’s cause of death has not been confirmed, though an autopsy showed “no signs of trauma” that could have contributed. (In dispatch audio obtained by People, authorities mentioned an “overdose” and “cardiac arrest” around the time of her death.)
According to a police report obtained by Us, Brian and Zach were on the scene at the apartment complex where Hayden was found. Officers said Brian provided a “bag of medication” that Hayden was “currently on.” Life-saving measures were performed on Hayden for “an extended amount of time” before she was pronounced dead, per the incident report.
Days after Hayden’s death, local South Carolina police were spotted outside of Brian’s family home for an unknown reason. While Brian has yet to publicly address the actress’ death, Hayden’s estranged mother slammed him in a statement.
“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death and that was Brian Hickerson,” Lesley Vogel told NBC News on Tuesday, August 18. “There is a lot of history in the past that Brian has enabled Hayden many times, and this is why her father and I had been concerned for a long time about him.”
Before her death, Hayden had been open about her tumultuous relationship with Brian.
“Getting an abusive person out of your life is like trying to rip a weed out that is so entangled into your life, and every time you pull it out another weed pops back up and you’re like, ‘I thought I killed this,’” Hayden told Us in her May cover story. “They always manage to find a way to slither back in, even if you’re an incredibly strong-willed person.”
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