Actress Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mother has hit out at her star daughter’s recent confession about being bisexual.
The Nashville star, 36, opened up about her sexual preferences this week during an interview promoting her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning. While the news surprised many fans, the star’s mother, Lesley Vogel, has since broken her silence to criticise the convenient timing of her estranged daughter’s revelations.
“I do not believe it was being hidden, but there is no historic proof that this is the case. I do think the timing of this coming out is very interesting,” Vogel, who was once her daughter’s manager, told The Daily Mail, hinting that she is well aware that headline-grabbing news always makes a successful promotional tour.
Panettiere revealed that she was bisexual during a promotional interview for her memoir with Us Weekly, sharing that it never felt like the “right time” to share the personal news with her fans.
“No one ever encouraged me to just be myself, and there was a period of time where it felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, was a fad,” she told the publication.
“It was just never the right time, and it was a very difficult topic to articulate properly … it’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?
“It was always scary, because my life, I mean, there were paparazzi always outside, waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere. I had very little privacy, and I mean, I have dated women. It started at a very, very young age.”
Panettiere has had her fair share of high profile relationships throughout her career.
She began dating her Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia in 2007, when she was 18. Two years later she entered into a relationship with boxing champ Wladimir Klitschko, but the pair split in 2011 – before resuming their relationship in 2013, this time for five years.
The pair had a daughter together in 2014, Kayla, who is now 11. After their 2018 split, and following her second trip to rehab for substance abuse issues, Panettiere gave up full custody of Kayla, who went to live with her father in Ukraine.
In the same US Weekly article, the actress also addressed her fractured relationship with her mother, revealing that the intense ‘stage mum’ pressure coming from her mother when she was a child actor laid the groundwork for their lack of communication today.
Recalling a harsh moment over a botched audition when she was just four years old, Panettiere confessed that penning her memoir was the only way she felt safe confronting the past.
“I was so scared of her that approaching her and being honest about my feelings was not going to get me any positive reaction,” she shared.
“This is my way of doing it.”
