Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother Lesley Vogel sat down with “Good Morning America” for an interview following her daughter’s death on Monday, and promptly called out her “haters.”
During the conversation, Vogel recalled her final interactions with her daughter, and noted that she was “numb” when she got the call about Panettiere’s death at 36. When asked how she’s doing now, Vogel noted that “it’s a process,” before calling out those criticizing her.
“I think it will probably hit me later on,” she explained. “I would say to the haters out there, you don’t have a right to tell me how I mourn the loss of my second child. That’s my domain.”
Indeed, Vogel lost her son Jansen Panettiere back in 2023, at just 28 years old. He died from heart complications. When asked how Vogel moves forward after losing two children, she touted her “inner strength.”
“I think you just have to find that inner strength,” she said. “I have been knocked down throughout my life, and I am not complaining, because I have the strength to get back up. And that really is — it’s not if we fall, it’s how we get back up that defines who we are.”
Panettiere and her mother were estranged at the time of Panettiere’s death, which Vogel largely blames Panettiere’s on again off again boyfriend Brian Hickerson for. In the days immediately following Panettiere’s death, Vogel also essentially blamed him for her daughter’s death, earning criticism from Gayle King.
In her “GMA” interview, Vogel reiterated her criticisms of Hickerson, and also pushed back against her daughter’s recollection of the moment she told Vogel she didn’t want her managing her career anymore.
You can watch the interview in the video above.
