Making it clear where she stands, Hayden Panettiere’s mom, Lesley Vogel, slams those who have been criticizing her following the Heroes star’s death.
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While appearing on the August 24 episode of Good Morning America, Vogel shared thoughts about the criticism.
“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,” she said. “That’s my domain.”
Panettiere suddenly passed away on August 16 after she was discovered unconscious at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina.
As she recalled her immediate reaction to her estranged daughter’s death, Vogel said she was “just numb.”
“I just couldn’t feel anything,” she said. “I still am not grasping this is real. It doesn’t feel real. My mind tells me it’s not all the time. It’s gonna be a process.”
Vogel went on to address Panettiere’s accounts of their mother-daughter relationship. Panettiere recalled telling her mother she no longer wanted her to be her manager. Vogel’s reply was allegedly, “You owe me.”
However, Vogel stated she had a different recollection of how the conversation went.
“I remember being in her trailer and literally saying nothing,” she said. “It was a very short, very brief conversation, and then she returned to set. I know I didn’t say what she said I did.”
Vogel had previously told Page Six that she and the late actress had been estranged since last year.
Vogel Said Her Daughter Began to Struggle After Landing Her ‘Heroes’ Role
Meanwhile, Vogel spoke about Panettiere’s struggles, noting that everything started when the late actress joined the cast of Heroes.
“I would say Hayden had a very happy life up until she got Heroes at 16,” Vogel explained. “Here she was the star of a major TV series, but I would say at 17, I started seeing her going downhill. As she got older and it wasn’t my voice anymore, I wasn’t in charge of her choices.”
She then said, “I tried to give her the best advice I could. But again, any young person, teen, they want to be liberated. And I get that.”
Regarding her daughter’s legacy, Vogel added, “I want Hayden to be remembered for the talented, you know, beautiful, outgoing, intelligent woman she really was.”
Panettiere spoke about her struggles with addiction over the years.
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