Hayden Panettiere & Brian Hickerson Kept Rekindled Romance Quiet Before Her Death at 36

Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson kept their rekindled romance quiet in order to protect her career, with the couple not breaking up as many times as the public was led to believe, TMZ reports.

A source close to Hickerson told the outlet that the two were together while she was promoting her new memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” but he stayed out of the spotlight with her as her camp felt is was “bad for business.”

“We’re told their complicated history was perceived as being bad for book sales — but they were still in constant communication during the promotional tour,” the outlet writes. “We’re also told Hayden basically became a member of the Hickerson family in recent years … especially in light of the fact that she didn’t have a close relationship with her own family.”

Another source added that the two had been dating for years and that any reports that detailed them breaking up were false and were released to help her career. The two were spotted together in Los Angeles and South Carolina at different times this past year.

Much of their turbulent relationship had to do with domestic violence allegations and arrests. Hickerson was sentenced to 45 days in jail back in 2021 after he was arrested on multiple felony charges, including four charges of corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant, two charges of assault with a deadly weapon, and one charge of intimidating a witness, Panettiere. He also faced a misdemeanor charge of battery on a spouse/cohabitant.

Panettiere died on Sunday afternoon in an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, with first responders arriving at the residence at 1:50 PM to help a woman who was in cardiac arrest, attempting life-saving measures, including CPR. She was pronounced dead at 2:32 PM.

One day following her death, on Monday, August 17, Hickerson’s Instagram profile was deleted, but the account had been inactive for years. Two ambulances were also spotted at the residence, leading to questions about whether two people were tended to by first responders.