Lesley Vogel, mother of the late Hayden Panettiere, has addressed allegations of pressuring her daughter into acting from a young age. In an interview with Daily Mail published on Saturday, August 22, Vogel, 70, clarified, “I was strong, definitely, but I was not abusive by any stretch of the imagination.”
Vogel recounted enrolling Panettiere with Wilhelmina modeling agency when she was just 8 months old, leading to her first commercial at 11 months. By age 5, Panettiere had secured a recurring role as Sarah Roberts on the soap opera One Life to Live, where she worked from 1994 to 1997. Vogel served as her first talent manager during this period.
Reflecting on her daughter’s early start, Vogel said, “She started with Wilhelmina at eight months old because she was a beautiful baby. My thought then was, let her do some stuff, we’ll put it in her college fund, and she’ll go to college. I never expected her to be a professional actor, never.”
In a May 2026 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Panettiere claimed she was “groomed” to work from an early age, describing herself as a “little soldier” who was expected to follow orders without question. She recalled, “Here are your scenes, here’s your dialogue, memorize it, hit the marks, do what your director tells you to do.”
Vogel, however, denied placing pressure on Panettiere regarding her career. “I think that Hayden put a pressure on herself,” she explained. “She mentioned ‘always having to please Mom’ or ensuring success, but I didn’t impose that on her. I believe she did that to herself.”
Vogel also dismissed the notion that her daughter was unhappy during her early career, stating, “Try making a 2-to 5-year-old child do something they don’t want to do. Are you going to be successful? No, you’re not. Probably 99 percent of the time.”
Hayden Panettiere was found dead at 36 in South Carolina on August 16. Her ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson discovered her. Despite efforts from emergency services, she was pronounced dead from a suspected overdose. Authorities reportedly found Narcan, a drug used to counteract overdoses, at the scene.
The autopsy showed no trauma contributing to her death, and the coroner’s office continues to investigate the cause.
Vogel broke her silence with a public statement that stirred controversy. She remarked on her daughter’s talent and the challenges faced by young people in the entertainment industry, stating on August 18, “It is not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path.”
Months before her unexpected death, Hayden Panettiere spoke about her estranged relationship with her mother, Lesley Vogel, in 2025, stating, “Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now.”
Vogel’s comments faced backlash from entertainment figures like Gayle King, Megyn Kelly, and Holly Robinson Peete. In her Daily Mail interview, Vogel expressed her disappointment, stating, “I was very, very hurt and deeply disappointed in the lack of professionalism, the lack of compassion in slamming someone who’s lost two children.” She added, “No one reached out to me before. It’s shameful. It’s unconscionable to me.”
Before Hayden’s passing, Vogel had already endured the loss of her son, Jansen Panettiere, at 28 due to an undiagnosed heart condition in February 2023.
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