Hayden Panettiere's boyfriend denies report that she 'gave up her daughter'
What is going on with Hayden Panettiere?
The 29-year-old actress from Nashville and Heroes is the target of an unflattering story in Us Weekly that claims she “gave up” her 4-year-old daughter, Kaya, with her boxer champ ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko as she spirals “out of control” with her new boyfriend, aspiring actor Brian Hickerson. The report has led Hickerson to speak out.
A post shared by Us Weekly (@usweekly) on Feb 6, 2019 at 6:09am PST
According to Us Weekly — which is owned by American Media, the same company that owns tabloids National Enquirer and Star — the actress has essentially chosen her new relationship over parenting. After battling postpartum depression, for which she sought treatment in 2015 and 2016, she now lives apart from the child, who is in Ukraine being raised by Klitschko and his mom, as she “spirals out of control” and exhibits “wild behavior,” the mag claims.
A source told Us, Panettiere, who was a child star, getting her star on soap operas, “hasn’t had much time” with Kaya.” The actress “knows the child being with her is not best” for Kaya right now. “It’s a sad situation.”
The magazine also reports that Panettiere’s romance with Hickerson — which was first revealed after she was spotted out with him while barefoot in August — is “not a healthy situation,” another source previously said.
Panettiere’s rep didn’t respond to Yahoo request for comment about the tabloid allegations on Wednesday, but Hickerson spoke out to Access Hollywood. “Hayden is actually on a family vacation right now with her daughter and the Champ, so don’t believe everything you read,” he said.
He added, “She’s a great mom.”
On Thursday, Panettiere posted a rare photo of her daughter on social media. “Sweet moments with sleeping babes,” she wrote.
Sweet moments with sleeping babes ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ui4cx02IOP
— Hayden Panettiere (@haydenpanettier) February 7, 2019
Hickerson previously denied to Access Hollywood that their relationship had her inner circle worried. “Just to be clear, Hayden’s friends and family are not worried about her at all,” he told the outlet in November. “Hayden is happy and healthy, and so is our relationship.”
Feeding the gossip about Panettiere’s relationship with Hickerson is an incident that occurred in his native South Carolina in November. According to a police report obtained by TMZ, Hickerson had a physical altercation with his dad and when police were called, Panettiere answered the door.
Panettiere has long been a target of tabloids and bloggers — and her parents’ fractured relationship often made headlines. The actress was in a romance with her Heroes co-star Milo Ventimiglia before her romance with Klitschko began and spanned nine years, off and on. Klitschko and Panettiere welcomed their only child together in December 2014. However, she experienced postpartum depression after and sought treatment, leading her to miss some of Nashville.
Just last week at the Sharkwater Extinction premiere, which Panettiere attended with Hickerson, she opened up about co-parenting with her ex. “We’re still respectful of each other, and we still have that friendship with each other,” she told Us Weekly. “It’s not a situation that you find yourself in all that often, so it’s a new one. But I think we’ve done a really good job.”
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