Celebrity3 min(s) read
Published 10:41 10 May 2026 GMT
Hayden Panettiere’s estranged mom has publicly addressed her daughter's decision to come out as bisexual.
The actress made the statement earlier this week, admitting that she was "sad" it took this long to finally come out.
Panettiere, 36, is best known for her roles on TV series Heroes and in the Scream film franchise.
She was also in a long-term relationship with former world champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko, with a clip of her discussing their bedroom habits recently resurfacing.
But as the actress is promoting her upcoming memoir, she is very much back in the public eye, with her mom feeling like she has needed to comment on her latest claims.
Lesley Vogel, the estranged mother of the Golden Globe-nominated actress, has shared her thoughts on Panettiere's decision to come out just weeks before her book, This is Me: A Reckoning, is released.
Responding to her daughter coming out as bisexual, the mother told the Daily Mail in an interview on Friday: "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," the mom claimed.
But Panettiere had also opened up about the relationship with her mother, or lack thereof, in a Us Weekly interview, in the same interview where she came out.
She explained this week: "Unfortunately, we don’t have a relationship right now. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t leave the door open for the opportunity to present itself one day.
"It’s hard for me to say, but I’ve chosen to be brutally honest," she admitted to the outlet.
Her admission was the first time she had a public discussion about her sexuality, saying: "That’s something about me I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time."
"It was either I was too young, and I was being forced to be perfect at all times. I was not encouraged to just be myself."
The 36-year-old went on: "Then came the period where it felt like people coming out, especially women, saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad. I was afraid that if I was honest, it was going to be like me jumping on the bandwagon.
"It’s sad I had to wait until I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?" Panettiere said.
She then added: "I'm comfortable to confidently say that yes, I am bisexual. I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud."
She told the publication that she hadn't been in love with a woman, describing it as "scary" previously.
"It was scary, though, because there were paparazzi always waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere. I had very little privacy," she said of dating women in the past.
"I have dated women. I was much more into women even as a child than I was men."
Panettiere explained that while she had explored it, she avoided sharing it, adding: "I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully emotionally into it.
"Because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide," she concluded.
