Celebrity3 min(s) read
Late actress Hayden Panettiere claimed in her memoir that she was put in bed next to a well-known "undressed" celebrity when she was just 18.
Many online drew conclusions from old snaps of Panettiere with Blunt, assuming that the latter was the man who lay with her in bed that day.
But he has since denied these claims, taking to social media to shut down the rumors linking him to the incident.
Panettiere had also previously opened up about an Oscar winner exposing himself to her when she was just 19, in another confession about being a young woman in Hollywood.
The actress revealed all about her early career and her harrowing experiences just earlier this year, following the release of her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.
Panettiere, whose death was reported on August 16 after being found in a South Carolina apartment, wrote about the incident and also spoke on Jay Shetty's podcast about what happened.
Speaking during a May 2026 episode of the podcast, the actress spoke about her memoir and explained: “The fact that I was 18, even though I’d lived such a huge life and I thought I was oh so mature at 18 … scientifically, your frontal lobes don’t develop until we’re what, 25, 26?
“So even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions, safe decisions, I wasn’t capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me.”
But when she realized she was "in danger," her "perspective completely shifted."
Panettiere described the experience as “shocking,” explaining that nothing earlier in the evening had made her suspect something was wrong.
“There was no hints of anything like that happening,” she recalled. “So it took me by surprise.”
Panettiere added: “She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous.
“My hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, ‘This is not happening.’
“I bolted and hid wherever I could think of to hide on a boat. There was no jumping off and swimming away,” she said.
“When you really find somebody that you trust, you hold on to them for dear life. So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling.”
Social media users uncovered two photographs after Panettiere's death - one featured Panettiere with Blunt, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Diana Jenkins, and actor Justin Long at an event.
Another showed Blunt and Panettiere on a yacht together, leading many to think that Jenkins was the 'trusted woman' mentioned, with Blunt being the 'very famous undressed man'.
However, both snaps were taken at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009, when Panettiere was 20 and not 18.
In response, Blunt shared an article on X by former entertainment journalist Dean Piper, which laid out the issues with the timeline suggested by online sleuths.
It argued that the dates meant it was impossible for these photos to be linked with an incident the actress said happened when she was 18.
The '1973' singer captioned his post with the eyes emoji, before deleting and then reposting it.
