Hayden Panettiere, the 36-year-old actress known for her role in Heroes, had a complex and strained relationship with her mother, Lesley R. Vogel, according to multiple sources. In an exclusive interview with Us Weekly in May 2026, she said, ‘Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day.’

Hayden’s Memoirs Reveal Family Struggles

Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, was released in May 2026 and detailed her difficult childhood as a child star, with her mother managing her career. She described feeling like she had an identity crisis at age 12 and said, ‘It’s so ingrained in me to be a people pleaser. I went on set, and it was all about being professional, nailing it and always hitting my mark. I had to be perfect.’

Panettiere explained that positive feedback from directors or producers meant little if her mother didn’t approve. ‘Without [my mom’s], nothing else mattered,’ she said. Vogel, 70, denied these claims in an interview with Page Six in May, saying, ‘There is a personality style which manifests as a need for control, entitlement and a lack of empathy.’

Gayle King Criticizes Lesley Vogel’s Comments

Gayle King, who interviewed Panettiere in May 2026 for the memoir release, criticized Vogel’s public statements following her daughter’s death. In a CBS Mornings interview, King said, ‘If I read that, I can only think: Thank you for nothing, Mum.’ She added, ‘It makes me so sad that you have the opportunity after your daughter’s death and you decide to leave us exactly that.’

King emphasized the emotional weight of the situation, noting that Panettiere had described the relationship with her mother as ‘complicated’ and ‘still in work.’ Vogel’s comments, according to King, revealed the intensity of the mother-daughter conflict: ‘When you hear something like that, it becomes clear that a lot of work was still being done on it.’

Hayden Felt Exploited as a Child Star

In a May 2026 interview with Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast, Panettiere described how her relationship with her mother was primarily business-oriented. She said, ‘The bond between me and my mother was completely business. From the car to the phone, I paid the bills for the family. I didn’t know where the money went, but I brought it home.’

She continued: ‘I was the confidante, the assistant, the therapist, the shoulder to cry on, just not her child.’ Panettiere had tried to end the professional relationship years earlier, telling her mother, ‘I don’t want to work with you anymore. I just want you to be my mother.’ Her mother responded, ‘You owe me something,’ and left the room. Panettiere described the experience as ‘disappointing to find out that it was about money. The fact that she had no interest in a relationship with me was hard to deal with.’