“To be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling,” Panettiere said of the harrowing encounter, which she says was orchestrated by a former friend.

Hayden Panettiere recalls betrayal of friend who left her in bed with an ‘undressed’ and ‘very famous’ man

"To be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling," Panettiere said of the harrowing encounter, which she says was orchestrated by a former friend.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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May 11, 2026 4:35 p.m. ET

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Hayden Panettiere at the 'Scream VI' premiere in New York City in 2023. Credit:

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

- Hayden Panettiere is opening up about a "shocking" moment she experienced at 18 while on a boat with a former friend.

- The *Nashville *star says she "physically put" in bed next to a "very famous" and "undressed" man by someone she thought she could trust.

- "I became ferocious. I was like, 'This is not happening,'" Panettiere recalled.

Hayden Panettiere is pulling back the curtain of her time in Hollywood, detailing a terrifying situation she faced on a boat at only 18 years old.

The prolific actress had already starred on *Ally McBeal*, *Heroes*, and *Remember the Titans *by the time of her 18th birthday in 2007. But as she told host Jay Shetty on Monday's episode of his *On Purpose* podcast, "Even though I'd lived such a huge life, and I thought I was oh so mature at 18, scientifically, your frontal lobes don't develop until we're 25, 26. So even though I felt like I could make healthy decisions, safe decisions, I wasn't capable of being fully aware of what was going on around me."

Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennett on 'Heroes'.

Dean Hendler/NBC

Panettiere details a harrowing encounter that put her situational awareness to the test in her forthcoming memoir, *This Is Me: A Reckoning*, out May 12 from Grand Central Publishing. "By the time I'd realized I was in danger, I was quite literally out to sea," she began. "I had been having a great time. There was no hints of anything like that happening. So I was shocked."

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She described being "led by somebody that I had grown to trust and see as a protector, and somebody who had my back. So to be walked down the stairs... it was presented as though it was a surprise, and it was this very small room. She physically put me in the bed next to this undressed man who was very famous, and had his hands like this," Panettiere said, pantomiming an expression of pure, careless relaxation, "like this was just an average day for him, and this is something that happens all the time."

Panettiere waited for her so-called friend to leave before unleashing "that lion in me, that fire in me. My hair stood on end and I became ferocious. I was like, 'This is not happening.'"

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"I had nowhere to hide. I bolted and I hid wherever I could think of to hide on a boat," she explained. "There was no jumping off and swimming away.. and I realized that there was nobody who was going to be empathetic to my situation — that this was nothing new to them."

More than "horrifying," Shetty's word to describe the situation, Panettiere called it "disappointing when somebody lets you down like that. I'd been let down so much before, and when you really find somebody that you trust, you hold on to them for dear life and you feel so lucky. So to be betrayed like that is just an awful feeling."

Panettiere got her start in Hollywood in 1994, with a main role on the soap opera *One Life to Live *that lasted three years. She was five years old at its start.

The actress has essentially worked tirelessly since then, but has been opening up about the challenges she's since overcome in the lead-up to the release of *This Is Me*. Last week, Panettiere opened up about surviving a "brutal" abusive relationship with ex Brian Hickerson. "I've always seen myself as such a resilient and strong woman," she reflected. "The idea that I could allow something like this to happen to me blew my mind. It blew the minds of the people that knew me best."

You can watch Panettiere's full interview on the *On Purpose with Jay Shetty* podcast above.

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