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Hayden Panettiere Fights Back Tears Remembering Her 18-Year-Old Traumatic Experience with a “Very Famous Man”
Hayden Panettiere almost cried when she retell a traumatic episode to bring to bed with a “very famous man” only 18 years old.
The Heroes star, 36, who just recently bared to being bisexual, stunned her followers by disclosing she was forced into getting into bed with the “undressed” more mature celebrity while on a boat.
Panettiere talked even more about the dreadful encounter, which is recorded in her book This Is Me: A Reckoning, during Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast on Monday, confessing that she sees how very innocent she was to the risk she had been facing.
Panettiere Discloses That a Trusted Friend Physically Put Her in Bed Next To “Undressed” Famous Man
Shetty said: “You describe a time when a friend took you to a boat. You were led to a room where an older man was present and then basically told to perform sexual acts.”
Panettiere answered: “And the thing was, I was 18 years old, even though a big part of my life had already been lived and I considered myself pretty mature, at 18… biologically speaking, your frontal lobes don’t develop until we’re what, 25, 26? ”
“And, although I thought I was capable of making sensible, safe decisions, I was not totally aware of what was happening around me.”
Panettiere reveals that the one who brought her into the difficult situation was her “protector” whom she had trusted but after that “they physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous.”
The “That Lion in Me” Moment: Panettiere Recalls Being Out of Room and Trying to Hide
The actress explained that she was first taken downstairs and led to a small room. Then, without any explanation, she was put into bed…
Panettiere, the lead of Nashville, said she went “ferocious” straightaway and noted: “That lion in me, that fire in me… my hair stood on end…
“I thought, ‘This can’t be happening” and proceeded to run out of the room and hide.”
“There was no jumping off and swimming away, ” she added. “And no one was going to understand my situation. I understood that it was nothing new to them.”
At only 17 years old, Panettiere became famous in 2006 by portraying Claire Bennet, a high-school cheerleader…
Panettiere on Coming Out as Bisexual at 36: “Better Late Than Never, Right?”
This announcement was made only a few days after Panettiere revealed she is bisexual, a decision that followed years of her feeling “forced to be perfect” simply to escape the harsh spotlight of public scrutiny.
“It’s unfortunate that I had to wait until I was 36 years old to bring up that aspect of me, however, better late than never, right?” the Nashville star told Us Weekly last week.
“I’ve decided to share it with the rest of the world, I’m fine with saying openly that I’m bisexual. I’m comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!” Although Panettiere’s always been surrounded by “paparazzi always outside waiting for me, ” she still found a way to secretly date women, whom, in fact, she had preferred over men “from a very, very young age.”
“[I was] way more attracted to women, ” the actress who has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe revealed.
“Sure, I’ve dabbled. It’s just that I don’t think I ever really had the guts because I hadn’t really told anyone this part of my story.”
Panettiere Was Concerned That Coming Out as Bisexual, It Would Look Like “Jumping on the Bandwagon”
“Actually, I really didn’t have the guts to dive emotionally, fully, into it, because then if I fell in love, that would be something I never wanted to hide, really. I just didn’t feel strong enough; I was too fearful of revealing that side of me, ” she revealed.
She feared that people would think she was just “jumping on the bandwagon” since it was “a time when it seemed like people, especially women, were coming out and saying that they were bisexual, or liked girls, was almost like a trend.”
The multi-Grammy nominated secret speaker chose to embrace “complete and utter honesty” regarding her sexuality over the 2-year period she was working on her book.
Having publicly dated only men, Panettiere’s last partner was the convicted felon Brian Hickerson with whom she broke up in 2020 after he was arrested eight times for domestic violence.
Panettiere Lost Custody of Daughter Amid Past Relationships with Ventimiglia, McCartney, and Morton
Her custody battle over her 11-year-old daughter Kaya Evdokia Klitschko was a result of her split with her ex-fiancé, retired heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko, with whom she had a nine-year on-again, off-again relationship & ended amicably in 2018.
The Equal Means Equal endorser has also been linked to her much older Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia, retired NFL wide receiver Scotty McKnight, Welsh TV presenter Steve Jones, singer Jesse McCartney, The Hills alum Stephen Colletti, and the late Pink Taco founder Harry Morton.
Panettiere is set to launch her four-date This Is Me book tour at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square in her hometown New York City on May 19.