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Lesley Vogel, mother of the late actress Hayden Panettiere, has spoken out to refute her daughter’s claims of abuse in a recent interview.
Hayden, who passed away just days before her 37th birthday on August 21, was open about the difficulties in her relationship with her mother during a May appearance on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose Podcast. Since then, Lesley, 70, has denied the troubling allegations Hayden made in one of her final public interviews.
“I was strong, definitely, but I was not abusive by any stretch of the imagination,” Lesley told the Daily Mail on August 22. This statement comes as Ruby Rose shared private messages from Hayden following Lesley’s remarks that Hayden “lost her way.”
Lesley suggested that much of the pressure Hayden felt came from within herself rather than from her parenting. “I think that Hayden put pressure on herself.
I know she mentioned always feeling the need to please me or succeed, but I didn’t put that on her. I think she put that on herself,” Lesley explained.
She also reflected on the challenges of parenting young children, saying, “Try making a two-to five-year-old child do something they don’t want to do. Are you going to be successful?
No, you’re not. Probably 99 percent of the time.”
In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, Hayden described her mother as a perfectionist and alleged that Lesley once superglued a fallen tooth back into her mouth so she wouldn’t miss out on a job. She also claimed her mother pressured her to wear more traditionally feminine clothing, rather than her preferred tomboy style.
Following the memoir’s release in May, Lesley told Page Six she believed some of Hayden’s disclosures were “partially to sell books.” She added, “As many parents of children in entertainment know, we’re familiar with watching the self-destructive paths our kids sometimes take.
No parent hopes for that. We want our children to be happy and live peaceful lives.
Sadly, that’s not always within our control. You cannot save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.”
Hayden Panettiere died at age 36 from a suspected drug overdose. She is survived by her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, whom she shares with ex-fiancé and former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko.
If you or someone you know is struggling, the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U.S. can be reached at 1-800-273-8255 or by dialing 988.