TMZ reports Hickerson was permanently banned from at least three South Carolina bars in the months before Panettiere’s death, citing sources with direct knowledge. Two of them were Hooters and Twin Peaks in Greenville, and the bans came within the last two to three months over excessive drinking on the properties.
Sources told the outlet he was often nice, kind, and engaging with staff when sober, but could become irate once intoxicated. He also often failed to leave when staff decided he’d had too much and asked him to go.
Panettiere was pronounced dead August 16 after she was found unresponsive inside the Greenville Airbnb she shared with him. His brother Zach told TMZ that Hickerson administered Narcan trying to save her.
Her death remains under investigation by state authorities and the DEA, and her mother, Lesley Vogel, publicly criticized Hickerson afterward. Three days before Panettiere died, L.A. prosecutors went to court to scold him for being “quite high” during a May 2026 TMZ interview, and he’d been arrested in August 2025 after allegedly being high at a West Hollywood restaurant…