Hayden Panettiere is not leaving Hollywood and moving to New York City amid the domestic abuse scandal involving her boyfriend Brian Hickerson, despite a false report. Gossip Cop can debunk the story. It’s simply not accurate.
In May, Panettiere’s boyfriend was charged with domestic abuse after an alleged physical altercation with the Nashville star and faces up to four years in prison if found guilty. Hickerson pleaded not guilty to the charge in July and Panettiere has been granted a protective order against Hickerson as well, preventing him from coming within 100 yards of the actress.
With a pretrial hearing coming up, the tabloids have increased their coverage of the story, so the National Enquirer is claiming that Panettiere “is ditching Hollywood” as a result of the situation. The magazine’s sister outlet, RadarOnline, published a similar story last week about Panettiere supposedly leaving Los Angeles. A so-called “pal” of the actress’s is quoted as saying, “After the drama in LA, Hayden wants to leave the bad memories behind.”
The story, just like the one from RadarOnline, says there “seems to be a possibility” that Panettiere and Hickerson “are still working things out” and that Panettiere’s family believes they may stay together, with no mention of the restraining order that Panettiere has on Hickerson. That’s a pretty major detail to leave out.
The phony story is based on claims from an anonymous “source,” but Panettiere’s own spokesperson is going on the record to refute it. Despite what the tabloid’s unidentified insider says, the actress’s rep confirms she’s not fleeing Hollywood amid the domestic abuse scandal.
The tabloids love to publish incorrect stories about celebrities “leaving Hollywood” amid what’s happening in their personal lives. In February 2018, the Enquirer wrongly reported Ben Affleck was leaving Hollywood and moving to a farm in upstate New York amid his divorce from Jennifer Garner. The actor still lives in LA and is on good terms with his ex-wife, with whom he’s successfully co-parenting three kids.
In 2017, the Enquirer’s sister publication, OK!, published an untrue story about Jessica Simpson and Eric Johnson leaving Hollywood and moving their family to San Francisco because LA was “a little too intense” for them. Gossip Cop immediately busted the story, and as time has proven, the spouses haven’t left Hollywood for the Bay Area. Given the gossip media’s terrible record on predicting cross-country moves, it’s safe to say this latest story is just more nonsense.