Brian Hickerson, the former partner of actress Hayden Panettiere, has come forward with a disturbing account from their turbulent years together, admitting to abusive behavior during their relationship.
Panettiere and Hickerson were involved in an on-again, off-again relationship spanning from 2018 until 2022. This period was fraught with domestic violence incidents that led to multiple arrests, casting a shadow over their time together.
Hickerson recently opened up to TMZ about Panettiere’s forthcoming memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” where she candidly addresses the abuse she endured. Despite his reservations, Hickerson confessed that the memoir includes an incident he wished had been omitted.
Recounting the event, Hickerson described a moment fueled by alcohol, where his actions crossed a line. He remembered, “I was drunk at the time, and Hayden was standing across the room. I had a phone in my hand and threatened, ‘Hayden, I’ll give you 10 seconds to run as fast as you can before I throw it at you.'”
“There’s a story where I was drunk, right? Hayden was standing across the room and I had a phone in my hand and I said, ‘Hayden I’ll give you 10 seconds to run as fast as you can before I throw it at you,’” he recalled.
“Who wants to read something about themselves, right?” he admitted about reading her memoir. “But you gotta be vulnerable and I did it. I did it, so.”
Hickerson said he misses Panettiere “every day” and that “of course” he thought about getting back together with her.
“I went into such a dark place, man, drugs, alcohol,” he recalled of their time together. “Good God, almighty, she’s five foot two on paper, four foot 11 in real life. I mean, come on.”
In April 2021, Hickerson was sentenced to 45 days in county jail after pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend. He was also hit with four years of probation, ordered to attend 52 domestic violence classes, and received a five-year restraining order that bars him from going near Panettiere.
The “Nashville” alum, 36, spoke about revisiting her abusive relationship with Hickerson in her memoir, telling Us Weekly it was “brutal, traumatic, and emotional.”
“It was important for me to word that experience properly,” she said.
She added, “It’s a very embarrassing subject. I’ve always seen myself as such a resilient and strong woman. The idea that I could allow something like this to happen to me blew my mind. It blew the minds of the people that knew me best.”