Hayden Panettiere’s ‘A Breed Apart’ Director Says She Was ‘Fighting to Stay Sober'

Yesterday I posted about my experience directing Hayden. Every outlet from Fox News to Inside Edition tried to get me on the phone and I passed because the useful part of what I'm trying to say might not survive somebody else's edit and I'd rather just tell you exactly why they're calling. When I think about this it's not just a Hayden story because I grew up on movie sets and I know a whole lot of child actors very well. I understand what it does to somebody to be put in front of a camera before they're old enough to consent. Hayden started acting when she was 11 months old. I was rooting for Hayden to beat the addiction that she spoke about openly and publicly herself in her memoir. Producer or director, no matter how certain you are that an actor or crew member is in a bad situation, you don't have the proof or the benefit of the time to verify it. You can adjust the schedule, you can collect internal reporting, and you can assign a handler to make sure that that individual is being taken care of as best as they can. When we wrapped, however, I stayed in touch with her team and what eventually got determined was that she might need an intervention and I was asked to participate and I said yes. And that intervention did not happen, at least not that I'm aware of, and I wasn't leading the charge on it and it wouldn't have been appropriate for me. Media journalists are calling me about what they want to know is the man that Hayden brought with her and all I know about that is what we observed and wrote down at the time that it happened with her boyfriend Brian Hickerson. I can also say that what's true is what's public record and you can look it up yourself because in 2021 he pleaded no contests to felony counts of injuring a spouse which was Hayden and there's other counts that were dismissed and he served time in jail and he was on probation and she had a restraining order against him the year before and then three days before she died a judge denied his motion to have the felony convictions reduced. Hayden's mom Leslie said that there was someone trying to get out of her life for a long time and that he was with her the day that she died. The coroner has not ruled a cause or manner of death. The police have said their investigation showed no indication of foul play and no one has accused that man of anything in connection with her death. I wasn't in South Carolina. I don't know what happened but what I will say is my opinion and it's only about what I saw on my own set. Somebody fighting to stay sober who deserved better company around them than what I observed. Hollywood has a extremely sad history of stars not getting the help that they deserve and our business has no fix for that so our observations they just get written down and thrown into a production report and then a year later you're just reading the news. So I was very lucky to work with Hayden. I wish he was still here. If you're watching somebody who needs help I have links and resources in the description. It's a free confidential line for people in our industry specifically and it's free and it's 24 hours. If you need it it's in the description and if you have any questions about what I'm saying just put in the comments and I'll answer what I can.