{"id":259128,"date":"2026-08-23T06:52:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T06:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/23\/hayden-panettieres-mom-denies-pressuring-daughter-to-work-as-a-child-not-abusive\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T06:52:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T06:52:30","slug":"hayden-panettieres-mom-denies-pressuring-daughter-to-work-as-a-child-not-abusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/23\/hayden-panettieres-mom-denies-pressuring-daughter-to-work-as-a-child-not-abusive\/","title":{"rendered":"Hayden Panettiere\u2019s Mom Denies Pressuring Daughter to Work as a Child: \u2018Not Abusive\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The late Hayden Panettiere<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s mother, Lesley Vogel<\/strong><\/a>, responded to accusations that she pressured her daughter to become a full-time actress from a young age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was strong, definitely, but I was not abusive by any stretch of the imagination,\u201d Vogel, 70, told The Daily Mail<\/em><\/a> in an interview published on Saturday, August 22.<\/p>\n

Vogel signed Panettiere up with the famed Wilhelmina modeling agency at 8 months old and the future Heroes<\/em> star shot her first commercial three months later. At 5 years old, Panettiere was cast in her first recurring TV role as Sarah Roberts on One Life to Live<\/em>. (Panettiere worked on the daytime soap from 1994 to 1997. Vogel was her daughter\u2019s first talent manager.)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe started with Wilhelmina at eight months old because she\u2019s a beautiful baby. I mean, really beautiful baby,\u201d Vogel recalled. \u201cMy thought then was, let her do some stuff, we\u2019ll put it in her college fund, and she\u2019ll go to college and she\u2019ll have this. I never expected her to be a professional actor, never.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Holly Robinson Peete Calls Out Hayden Panettiere’s Mom After Actress’ Death<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tHolly Robinson Peete is backing Gayle King after the morning show host called out Hayden Panettiere\u2019s estranged mom, Lesley Vogel, following her statement on the actress\u2019 death. \u201cShe\u2019s not wrong,\u201d Peete, 61, wrote via X on Wednesday, August 19, alongside a link to a story about King\u2019s remarks in which she said that Vogel\u2019s statement [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

During a May 2026 interview with The Hollywood Reporter<\/em><\/a>, Panettiere insisted that she\u2019d been \u201cgroomed\u201d to work for as long as she could remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like a little soldier and I always have been. \u2018No\u2019 was never an option,\u201d Panettiere alleged. \u201cIt was just, \u2018Here are your scenes, here\u2019s your dialogue, memorize it, hit the marks, do what your director tells you to do.\u2019 I took my marching orders.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her latest interview, Vogel denied that she was responsible for any pressure that her daughter may have felt around her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that Hayden put a pressure on herself,\u201d Vogel said. \u201cI know that she has mentioned, you know, [that she] \u2018always had to please Mom,\u2019 or make sure it was, you know, I succeeded or whatever. I didn\u2019t put that on her. I think she put that on herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vogel also rejected the idea that Panettiere was unhappy in the earliest days of her child stardom.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry making a 2-to 5-year-old child do something they don\u2019t want to do,\u201d she declared. \u201cAre you going to be successful? No, you\u2019re not. Probably 99 percent of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Lesley Vogel<\/span> David Livingston\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Panettiere was found dead at age 36<\/a> in South Carolina on August 16 by her ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson<\/strong><\/a> and his brother, Zach Hickerson<\/strong><\/a>. Emergency service workers performed \u201cadvanced cardiac life support measures\u201d but Panettiere was ultimately pronounced dead of a suspected overdose<\/a> that afternoon. (Authorities reportedly found Narcan<\/a> \u2014 a life-saving over-the-counter medication that can reverse the effects of a drug overdose \u2014 at the scene.)<\/p>\n

An autopsy found \u201cno signs of trauma that would have contributed\u201d to Panettiere\u2019s death at the scene but deferred determining a cause of death \u201cpending further investigation and the completion of additional studies,\u201d per the coroner\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Vogel initially broke her silence<\/a> about her daughter\u2019s death with a public statement that proved to be extremely controversial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments, and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry \u2014 it is a struggle and it\u2019s a very challenging industry and it\u2019s not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path,\u201d she said on Tuesday, August 18.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Hayden Panettiere Shared Update on Relationship With Her Mom Before Death<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tHayden Panettiere shared an update on her relationship with her estranged mom, Lesley Vogel, months before her untimely and shocking death. \u201cUnfortunately, we don\u2019t have a relationship right now,\u201d the Heroes alum exclusively told Us back in 2025. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Those comments were widely condemned by a wide range of entertainment figures, from TV hosts Gayle King<\/strong><\/a> and Megyn Kelly<\/strong> to actress Holly Robinson Peete<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vogel delivered a scathing response<\/a> in her Daily Mail<\/em> interview, saying. \u201cI was very, very hurt and deeply disappointed in the lack of professionalism, the lack of compassion in slamming someone who\u2019s lost two children, without even a modicum of consideration. No one reached out to me before. It\u2019s shameful. It\u2019s unconscionable to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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