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As the world continues to process Hayden Panettiere’s tragic death, mourning fans are learning more about where things stood.
Unfortunately, the actress had quietly gotten back together with Brian Hickerson, the guy who pleaded no contest to punching her just a few years ago. (One of multiple known domestic violence incidents.)
Now, a series of threatening texts that he apparently sent to Panettiere have been published.
Be warned, the sheer malice of these words is difficult to read, to say nothing of the violent context.
It certainly reads like an attempt to blackmail her into dropping charges
TMZ obtained documents stemming from Hickerson’s February 14, 2020 arrest for domestic battery.
(There is no good day to punch one’s partner, but choosing Valentine’s Day for such an evil act seems extra despicable somehow.)
Like Panettiere’s death, this happened at an Airbnb.
A court order following the closed-fist blow prohibited Hickerson from contacting his victim.
That did not stop him from sending her a series of threatening texts — texts that sound a lot like an attempt at blackmail.
Hayden Panettiere’s mother Lesley Vogel slams Hayden’s on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson:
“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson.” pic.twitter.com/29dJvG6C3n
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 18, 2026
“Time to go to war I guess,” one of Hickerson’s alleged texts reads.
“After Wyoming and LA disappears so do the videos,” another message taunted.
“Even if i sit in a jail cell for ten years. All of the stuff that is vaulted overseas with my people will come out the second I step foot into prison,” what appears to be a clear blackmail threat announces.
“And all that does is hurt your name while simultaneously clearing my name,” Hickerson apparently claimed. “And at that point who actually cares?” Wow.
“Say something Hayd, so I don’t get defensive and start firing off emails to people to get ready,” another threatened.
The sentence that he received would be laughable if it were funny
“I thought his legal stuff would magically disappear,” another alleged text menaced. “We gotta figure something out, buddy.”
Hickerson’s texts continued in the report, reading: “It is very simple, it is a very simple fix, between me and you, you gotta make one phone call,” and “I don’t want to go to court, for you.”
An additional message threatened Hayden Panettiere with: “I will be f–king fine in court, trust me, it’s for you.”
Hickerson was sentenced to one year behind bars … and then the sentence was suspended, resulting in one year of probation.
The ways in which our society and legal system do not protect victims of domestic violence are staggering. The most evil men alive walk free while innocent people who have harmed no one spend years in prison for possession of a forbidden plant in some states.
We have no idea what video, if any, Brian Hickerson claimed to have of Hayden Panettiere. We also do not want to know.
To be clear, the Valentine’s Day 2020 episode was not his only time facing charges for domestic violence against Panettiere.
He ended up spending weeks in jail, years on probation. Hickerson was also ordered to take domestic violence prevention classes, a measure that many experts have pointed out is unlikely to work.
Domestic abusers do not actually “lose control” or simply misunderstand how to process their emotions or whatever else they may claim during the faux apology phase. Violence is a tool that they employ to get their way, to make them feel powerful and in control.
There are measures that a responsible society could employ to keep malefactors like Hickerson from harming anyone else ever again. But that would require caring about victims and justice and women and children and a lot of other things that do not seem to be priorities for lawmakers.
