Hayden Panettiere was 36 when she died, but even as an adult, she wrote that her estranged mother could still reduce her to sobs. Days later, that same mother told NBC News that Hayden had “sadly lost her way.” In response, Hayden’s friend Ruby Rose shared their private texts, revealing, in Hayden’s own words, the pain that never left her.
Days after Hayden Panettiere died at 36, her estranged mother told NBC News that Hayden had “sadly lost her way.” So Ruby Rose posted the texts Hayden had sent her about the pain that mother still caused.
Hayden Panettiere died August 16 at 36 in Greenville, South Carolina, and within days her mother, Lesley Vogel, was talking to the press about her.Vogel told NBC News that young people in the industry often “find the wrong path,” that her daughter “sadly lost her way,” and that she wished Hayden “had stayed true to herself because she had many incredible attributes.”
Ruby Rose, who called Hayden an “INCREDIBLE FRIEND,” answered by posting screenshots of texts she said came from Hayden. In one, the message reads: “I was sobbing over her cruelty yesterday thinking, my god I’m 36 and she can still cause this kind of pain. I’m her only child left and this is how she wants to handle the situation?!”
The “only child left” line points to Hayden’s brother Jansen, who died in 2023 at 28 of an enlarged heart.
The estrangement ran for years. Vogel managed Hayden’s career from infancy, and at 19 Hayden ended the professional relationship, saying she just wanted her mother to be her mom. In her memoir this year, Hayden wrote that she had felt more like an employee than a daughter.
Rose had earlier urged people not to trust Hayden’s “estranged mother” or “any of her abusers.” Outlets that reported the texts noted they couldn’t independently verify the sender in every case. Toxicology and the official cause of death are still pending.
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